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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Aniruddha Mitra; James T. Bang |
| Abstract: | This paper contributes to the emerging literature on gender differences in the causes and consequences of brain drain. Differentiating between gender bias in the access to economic opportunities and gender differentials in economic outcomes, we find that differences in access have a significant impact on the emigration of highly-skilled women relative to that of men. However, differentials in outcomes do not have a significant impact. Additionally, the structure of political institutions in the source countries does not have a significant impact on the difference in emigration rates. |
| Keywords: | immigration, gender, brain drain |
| JEL: | F22 O15 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mdl:mdlpap:1027&r=mig |
| By: | Aniruddha Mitra; James T. Bang |
| Abstract: | We investigate the impact of home country institutions on the skill level of immigrants to the United States over 1988-1998. Specifically, we explore the hypothesis that institutions are multidimensional and that the different dimensions have conflicting impacts on the migration of skilled labor. Using an exploratory factor analysis on fifteen institutional variables, we identify the following dimensions of institutional character: credibility; transparency; democracy; and the security of civil society. We find that credibility and transparency increase the magnitude of brain drain; security reduces it; and democracy has no significant impact. |
| Keywords: | immigration, institutions, political instability, brain drain |
| JEL: | F22 J24 J61 J64 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mdl:mdlpap:1026&r=mig |
| By: | Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. (University of Melbourne); Nguyen, Trong-Ha (Australian National University) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the degree of intergenerational education mobility among immigrant and native-born youth in Australia. We find that young Australians from non-English-speaking background (NESB) immigrant families have an educational advantage over their English-speaking background (ESB) immigrant and Australian-born peers. Moreover, while highly-educated Australian-born mothers and fathers transfer separate and roughly equal educational advantages to their children, outcomes for ESB (NESB) youth are most closely linked to the educational attainment of their fathers (mothers). On balance, intergenerational mobility in families with two highly-educated parents appears to be much the same for Australian-born and ESB families and is somewhat greater for NESB families. Finally, the greater importance that NESB mothers attribute to education appears to mitigate the educational penalty associated with socio-economic disadvantage. |
| Keywords: | education, immigration, intergenerational |
| JEL: | I20 J11 J13 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4985&r=mig |
| By: | Young-Bae Kim (University of Surrey); Paul levine (University of Surrey); Emanuela Lotti (University of Southamton and University of Surrey) |
| Abstract: | The UK, with its relatively liberal immigration policies following recent enlarge- ments, has been one of the main recipients of migrants from new EU member states. This paper poses the questions: what is the effect of immigration on a receiving econ- omy such as the UK? Is the effect beneficial or adverse for growth? Does emigration have brain drain effects on sending economies? How differently would skilled (or un- skilled) migration affect both receiving and sending economies? What factors would contribute to immigration/emigration benefits/costs and economic growth driven by migration? Who are the winners and losers in both the sending and host regions? We utilize an endogenous growth two-bloc model with labour mobility of different skill compositions to address these questions. We show that migration, in general, is beneficial to the receiving country and increases the world growth rate. With remit- tances, the sending country in aggregate can also benefit. The only exception is in the case of unskilled migration, which can actually have a detrimental impact on the world growth rate. This possibility however seems to be unlikely by our examination of migration trends. Winners are migrants, and the skill group in the region that sees its relative size decrease. |
| Keywords: | Migration, Labour mobility, Skill composition, Economic growth |
| JEL: | F22 F43 J24 J61 O41 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sur:surrec:0610&r=mig |
| By: | Manacorda, Marco; Manning, Alan; Wadsworth, Jonathan |
| Abstract: | Immigration to the UK, particularly among more educated workers, has risen appreciably over the past 30 years and as such has raised labor supply. However studies of the impact of immigration have failed to find any significant effect on the wages of native-born workers in the UK. This is potentially puzzling since there is evidence that changes in the supply of educated natives have significant effects on their wages. Using a pooled time series of British crosssectional micro data on male wages and employment from the mid-1970s to the mid-2000s, this paper offers a resolution to this puzzle, namely that in the UK natives and foreign born workers are imperfect substitutes. We show that immigration has primarily reduced the wages of immigrants - and in particular of university educated immigrants - with little discernable effect on the wages of the native-born. |
| Keywords: | Immigration; Returns to education; Wages |
| JEL: | J6 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:7888&r=mig |
| By: | Bell, Brian (London School of Economics); Machin, Stephen (University College London); Fasani, Francesco (University College London) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the relationship between immigration and crime in a setting where large migration flows offer an opportunity to carefully appraise whether the populist view that immigrants cause crime is borne out by rigorous evidence. We consider possible crime effects from two large waves of immigration that recently occurred in the UK. The first of these was the late 1990s/early 2000s wave of asylum seekers, and the second the large inflow of workers from EU accession countries that took place from 2004. A simple economics of crime model, when dovetailed with facts about the relative labour market position of these migrant groups, suggests net returns to criminal activity are likely to be very different for the two waves. In fact, we show that the first wave led to a small rise in property crime, whilst the second wave had no such impact. There was no observable effect on violent crime for either wave. Nor were immigrant arrest rates different to natives. Evidence from victimization data also suggests that the changes in crime rates during the immigrant waves cannot be ascribed to crimes against immigrants. Overall, our findings suggest that focusing on the limited labour market opportunities of asylum seekers could have beneficial effects on crime rates. |
| Keywords: | crime, immigration |
| JEL: | F22 K42 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4996&r=mig |
| By: | Michelle von Ahn (London Borough of Newham); Ruth Lupton (London School of Economics and Political Science) |
| Abstract: | For the first time in 2008 the Annual School Census (ASC) required all schools to provide pupil information on the language spoken at home. Our analysis focuses on children attending state schools in London. Over 300 languages are spoken by London pupils, around 60% of London pupils are English speakers however, there are over 40 languages spoken by more than 1,000 pupils. Bengali, Urdu and Somali are the top three languages spoken in London, other than English. We show that English has a `doughnut' shaped geographical distribution in London, being the predominant language in most of Outer London. Languages other than English are more common in Inner London. Most minority languages, such as Bengali, Urdu and Turkish, have one, two or three main clusters, reflected settled immigrant communities. However others, notably Somali, are widely dispersed. This has implications for service provision. Some of the ethnic categories that are widely used in analysis of Census data hide substantial linguistic diversity, particularly `Black African' and `White Other.' Within London, where these groups are numerous, language data provides a valuable disaggregation of these heterogeneous groups. Our work suggests that language spoken provides a means to better understand the relationship between ethnicity and educational performance. |
| Keywords: | Languages, London, ethnicity, educational performance |
| JEL: | I20 R23 Z13 |
| Date: | 2010–06–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qss:dqsswp:1012&r=mig |