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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Sam Huckstep (Center for Global Development); Johann Harnoss (Boston Consulting Group; Center for Global Development) |
| Abstract: | Workforce constraints are a widespread bottleneck to decarbonisation, hindering implementation and investment. In a novel exercise, we model the decarbonisation impact of the marginal contribution of a “green-skilled” worker in contexts of labour shortage across six countries in two occupations: an electrician installing residential rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, and a heating technician installing residential heat pumps, during the period 2024 – 2032. We find that the additional (“marginal”) worker can contribute thousands of tonnes of CO2 abatement, even when accounting for rapid grid decarbonisation. The marginal worker’s contribution can have a monetised social value of hundreds of thousands of dollars. It is the equivalent of planting thousands of trees: a forest per worker. On this basis, we argue that labour shortages must not be allowed to constrain decarbonisation activities. Where domestic training cannot meet demand, labour migration is a valuable policy tool. Because workers may make larger contributions in countries of origin than in countries of destination, however, we note that care must be taken to avoid implementation gaps caused by brain drain in countries of origin. Partnerships that combine training and labour migration partnerships can mitigate these risks. |
| Date: | 2026–01–15 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:ppaper:376 |
| By: | Brian Marein (Wake Forest University Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Recent studies document persistent racial wealth inequality in the United States, often attributing modern disparities to historical differences. But inferring the determinants of long-run racial wealth inequality with aggregated data is complicated by the fact that 30 million European immigrants arrived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with no direct claim to the wealth accumulated by earlier generations of Americans. Drawing on government data, I find that immigrants arrived with few assets, far behind the native-born population. Yet survey evidence reveals that by the late 20th century, their descendants achieved wealth parity with earlier arriving white ethnic groups. Using a stylized model, I show that this rapid convergence can be explained mostly by immigrants' income growth and plausibly higher savings rates. These findings indicate that initial differences in wealth matter less for long-run outcomes than previously suggested. The results also underscore the central role of race in shaping inequality, consistent with faster economic convergence within than across racial groups. |
| Keywords: | wealth inequality; intergenerational wealth transmission; immigration |
| JEL: | D31 J15 N11 N12 |
| Date: | 2026–01–22 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:wfuewp:022126 |
| By: | Arrighetti, Alessandro; Foresti, Giovanni; Fumagalli, Serena; Giusti, Sara; Lasagni, Andrea |
| Abstract: | This paper challenges the widespread assumption that migrant-owned firms inevitably suffer from persistent performance disadvantages due to structural liabilities. Using a matched-sample design based on firm-level administrative data for the period 2019–2023, we compare migrant- and native-owned enterprises across multiple performance dimensions, including value added, sales, total assets, and employment growth. While descriptive statistics confirm migrant-owned firms’ lower capital intensity and value added levels, our regression estimates reveal no evidence of a systematic performance disadvantage associated with the Liability of Foreignness (LoF). Moreover, when LoF and other liabilities (Liability of Newness, LoN, and Liability of Smallness, LoS) are jointly considered, interaction effects are either neutral or positive. In particular, young migrant firms (LoF × LoN) and micro-sized migrant firms (LoF × LoS) often outperform native-owned enterprises’ in growth indicators. These results seem to suggest that eventual disadvantages caused by the Liability of Foreignness can be offset by some strategic assets, such as transnational networks, flexibility, and adaptive capabilities, that usually characterized migrant-owned firms. The findings contribute to a more context-sensitive understanding of migrant entrepreneurship, with implications for both theory and policy. |
| Keywords: | Migrant entrepreneurship, Native firms, Liability of Foreignness, Liability of Newness, Liability of Smallness, Growth, Performance, Matched-pair Analysis |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:esprep:335547 |
| By: | Anna Bindler (DIW Berlin, University of Potsdam, Berlin School of Economics, CEPA); Randi Hjalmarsson (University of Gothenburg, CEPR); Stephen Machin (London School of Economics, CEP); Melissa Rubio-Ramos (University of Cologne) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies how and why anti-Irish sentiment in 19th century England spills over onto jury decisions at London’s Old Bailey Central Criminal Court. We classify the (perceived) ethnicity of courtroom participants according to whether they have distinctly Irish or English surnames based on place of birth in the 1881 census. Irish-named defendants have significantly worse outcomes: juries are 3% more likely to convict Irish-named defendants and 16% less likely to recommend mercy in sentencing. Sentencing gaps are larger for violent crimes and robust to different classifications of surname Irishness, as well as to the inclusion of case and defendant controls. We argue that these findings are unlikely to be driven by correlated unobservable case or trial characteristics (like defense quality). Rather, we provide two pieces of evidence consistent with the gaps being driven by animus towards those perceived to be Irish. First, taking advantage of exogenous variation in expected punishment driven by the abolition of capital punishment, we show that juries react differentially to shifts in extraneous factors when the defendant is Irish- versus English-named. Second, these gaps are not limited to Irish-named defendants but also seen for other courtroom participants – namely Irish-named victims. Finally, we trace out the longer run evolution of these gaps throughout the 1800s: they first emerge during the capital punishment reform period, widen during the mid-century Irish Potato Famine induced migration to London, and thereafter remain primarily stable. |
| Keywords: | Irish, crime, criminal law, discrimination, economic history |
| JEL: | K42 K14 J15 N33 N93 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pot:cepadp:97 |