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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Kipp, David |
| Abstract: | The number of Indian migrants in Germany has risen sharply in recent years. In particular, they are helping alleviate the shortage of skilled workers in STEM professions. For Germany, India is the most important country of origin for labour and education migration. Currently, the profile of migration to Germany is changing: fewer experts are entering on the EU Blue Card (which, until recently, was the most important residence permit for skilled workers), while more students, trainees and professionally qualified people are coming to look for jobs or have their qualifications recognised by the German authorities. The Migration and Mobility Partnership Agreement (MMPA) concluded by Berlin and New Delhi in 2022 does not expand the German legal framework for recruiting skilled workers through the provision of new access routes. However, it does improve the practical implementation of self-organised migration from India - for example, by speeding up visa procedures. The MMPA Joint Working Group offers the opportunity not only to engage in a dialogue with the Indian government aimed at harnessing the full potential of increasing migration but also to address the challenges that have arisen from that trend, including the inadequate regulation of private recruitment agencies. The example of India shows that Germany's external infrastructure and migration-related development cooperation must be used much more effectively in countries of origin in order to develop new approaches to the fair and successful recruitment of skilled workers for the German labour market. Migration cooperation is a bridge builder in German-Indian relations, which are becoming increasingly important. Key areas of bilateral collaboration - such as digitisation, artificial intelligence and climate protection - should be systematically linked to knowledge exchange and the mobility of skilled professionals in these sectors. |
| Keywords: | Indian migrants, Germany, German-Indian relations, migrant workers, EU Blue Card, skilled workers, Migration and Mobility Partnership Agreement (MMPA), visa procedures, fair and successful recruitment, private agencies |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:swprps:327102 |
| By: | Chaudhary, Latika (Naval Postgraduate School); Dupraz, Yannick (Paris Dauphine University, PSL University, LEDA, CNRS, IRD); Fenske, James (University of Warwick and CAGE) |
| Abstract: | Combining detailed data on language and migration across colonial Indian districts in 1901 with a gravity model, we find origin and destination districts separated by more dissimilar languages saw less migration. We control for the physical distance between origin-destination pairs, several measures of dissimilarity in geographic characteristics, as well as origin and destination fixed effects. The results are robust to a regression discontinuity design that exploits spatial boundaries across language groups. We also find linguistic differences predict lower migration in 2001. Cultural channels are a small part of the link from linguistic diversity to lower migration. Rather, the evidence suggests communication and information channels are more important. |
| Keywords: | Migration, Linguistic Diversity, India JEL Classification: N35, O15, Z13 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:774 |
| By: | Brox, Enzo; Krieger, Tommy |
| Abstract: | We study how far-right mass rallies affect people's views about a city and thus location choices of nationals. To this end, we first exploit that the city of Dresden (Germany) unexpectedly experienced such rallies at the turn of the year 2014/15. Results from dyadic difference-in-differences and Synthetic Control analyses suggest that the number of (young) German adults who moved from another region to Dresden declined by around 10% due to the far-right mass protests. We complement our first analysis with a conjoint experiment where participants decide between two hypothetical cities. This experiment confirms that far-right rallies have a dissuasive effect and shows that left-wing people react stronger than right-wing people. It also reveals that far-right protests cause security concerns and concerns about finding like-minded people. The latter reaction is only observed for people that do not support the far right. |
| Keywords: | far-right movements, location decisions, internal migration, political protest, populism, regional competition for talent, reputation of cities, university students |
| JEL: | D72 I23 O15 P00 R23 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:327113 |
| By: | Tino, Stephen |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the importance of labor market power and firm productivity for understanding the immigrant-native pay gap. Using matched employer-employee data from Canada, I estimate a wage-posting model that incorporates two-sided heterogeneity and strategic interactions in wage setting. In the model, firms mark down wages below the marginal revenue product of labor (MRPL), and the equilibrium immigrantnative pay gap arises from differences in wage markdowns and MRPL. The findings suggest that immigrants earn 77% of their MRPL on average, compared to 84% for natives. I also decompose the immigrant-native pay gap using counterfactual exercises that account for general equilibrium responses of workers and firms. The results of the counterfactuals suggest that (i) differences in labor supply curves contribute significantly to earnings inequality between immigrants and natives; (ii) immigrants tend to work at more productive firms, driven by their tendency to work in cities where firms are more productive on average; and (iii) heterogeneity in firm productivity magnifies the contribution of labor supply differences to the immigrant-native pay gap, highlighting the importance of interaction effects. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, inequality, monopsony, firm productivity, immigrant-native earnings differential |
| JEL: | J01 J15 J23 J31 J42 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:clefwp:327118 |
| By: | Michel Bierlaire (TRANSP-OR, EPFL); Vincent Dautel (LM, LISER); Frédéric Docquier (UDM, LISER); Silvia Peracchi (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES)) |
| Abstract: | This study examines the influence of agglomeration and deglomeration forces on residence-workplace location choices across skill groups. Contrary to the standard approach in economic geography, the focus on skills rather than people is particularly relevant in knowledge-based economies, where core-periphery dynamics are driven by skill disparities. Our case study examines the mobility of French-born workers within the Greater Region surrounding Luxembourg. Between 2005 and 2019, an estimated 38, 445 additional workers aged 20-59 joined the Luxembourg economy, of which 25, 801 were highly educated. We examine how wage differentials and housing costs, among other factors, have influenced migration and commuting patterns across skill groups. Our results show that while higher housing costs in core areas create deglomerative effects for low- and medium-skilled workers, high-skilled workers are more responsive to wage differentials and remain undeterred by rising housing prices. These forces alone have increased the number of tertiary-educated movers by 8, 619 between 2005 and 2019, compared to 3, 091 medium-skilled and 543 low-skilled. They substantially contributed to the doubling of the ”brain drain“ from the periphery to the core (from 12 to 24%) and to the widening of regional skill differentials. Overall, these findings underscore the need to look beyond people and consider skill differentials when modeling core-periphery dynamics or formulating policies to promote inclusive regional development. |
| Keywords: | Regional mobility, Human capital, Core-periphery dynamics |
| JEL: | R23 J61 R12 |
| Date: | 2025–09–23 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvir:2025015 |
| By: | Eric Donald; Masao Fukui; Yuhei Miyauchi |
| Abstract: | We study the optimal allocation of population and consumption in a dynamic spatial general equilibrium model with frictional migration, where households' idiosyncratic location preference shocks are private information. We derive a recursive formula for the constrained-efficient allocation, capturing the trade-off between consumption smoothing and efficient migration. In a quantitative model calibrated to the US economy featuring both cross-state migration and risk-free savings, we find that the constrained-efficient allocation features lower population but higher average consumption in less productive states than the status quo, achieving efficiency and spatial redistribution simultaneously through dynamic incentives. In response to local negative productivity shocks, the constrained-efficient allocation features more front-loaded consumption than the status quo, with systematic heterogeneity linked to the location’s pre-shock fundamentals. |
| JEL: | E0 F0 R0 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34290 |