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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Hamermesh, Daniel S. (University of Texas at Austin); Trejo, Stephen (University of Texas at Austin) |
| Abstract: | Using 2004-2008 data from the American Time Use Survey, we show that sharp differences between the time use of immigrants and natives become noticeable when activities are distinguished by incidence and intensity. We develop a theory of the process of assimilation – what immigrants do with their time – based on the notion that assimilating activities entail fixed costs. The theory predicts that immigrants will be less likely than natives to undertake such activities, but conditional on undertaking them, immigrants will spend more time on them than natives. We identify several activities – purchasing, education and market work – requiring the most interaction with the native world, and these activities more than others fit the theoretical predictions. Additional tests suggest that the costs of assimilating derive from the costs of learning English and from some immigrants’ unfamiliarity with a high-income market economy. A replication using the 1992 Australian Time Use Survey yields remarkably similar results. |
| Keywords: | time use, fixed costs, incidence, intensity |
| JEL: | J11 J22 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5010&r=mig |
| By: | Sara Flisi; Marina Murat |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effects of immigrant networks on the bilateral FDI of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK, and, for Italy and Spain, also of the emigrant diasporas. It analyses the effects of skilled and unskilled immigrants and of networks linked to developing and developed countries. Results show that the FDIs of the UK, Germany and France are affected by the networks of skilled immigrants, while those of Italy and Spain are prompted only by the emigrant diasporas. Networks linked to OECD and non-OECD countries have similar effects |
| Keywords: | migration, networks, skills, diasporas, FDI |
| JEL: | F21 F22 F23 |
| Date: | 2010–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mod:depeco:0628&r=mig |
| By: | Inoue, Jun |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the regulatory characteristics of the EU, the UK, and Japan concerning the accepting of nurses from overseas, by focusing on the interests of regulatory bodies and policies to promote or mitigate the impact of push-pull factors on the inflow of nurses. These cases show that verifying qualifications, assessing language skills, and admitting work permits are important, instant, and effective measures through which regulatory bodies can promote or mitigate the impact of push-pull factors on the inflow of nurses into their territories. The EU and the UK studies revealed that further research is required concerning the discrimination which is prohibited under EU law. Compared to Europe, Japan's Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) is a full-course regulatory arrangement that covers issues ranging from quantitative restriction, refusal of mutual recognition, refusal of verification of qualification valid in other countries, and language proficiency to work permit, due to ambivalent interests in a single regulatory framework. |
| Keywords: | migration of nurses, the EU, the UK, Japan's EPA, regulatory bodies |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:hituec:a526&r=mig |
| By: | Eric D. Gould (Hebrew University, Shalem Center, CEPR, and IZA); Omer Moav (Hebrew University, Royal Holloway University of London, Shalem Center, and CEPR) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effect of inequality on the incentives to emigrate according to a person’s education and unobservable skills (residual wage). Borjas (1987) shows that higher skilled individuals are more likely to emigrate than lower skilled individuals when the returns to skill are higher in a potential foreign destination. Using a unique data set on Israeli emigrants, we show that the probability of emigrating indeed increases monotonically with education. However, the relationship between residual wages and emigration rates exhibits an inverse u-shaped pattern. We build a model to explain both of these patterns by incorporating the idea that education is a “general” skill which can be transferred to a foreign country, but residual wages are composed of “general” and “country-specific skills” which are not easily transferable. We test the model’s predictions by exploiting variation in the patterns of emigration across industries and occupations. Our findings are consistent with the theory, and therefore, highlight the importance of differentiating between general and “country-specific” skills in order to understand emigrant selection. |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:201014&r=mig |
| By: | Juliano Assuncao; Leandro Carvalho |
| Abstract: | The Roy model predicts that migrants will be disproportionately drawn from the lower half of the educational distribution of the sending country if the sending country has a higher return to schooling. However, Mexican immigrants in the U.S. tend to be disproportionately drawn from the middle of the distribution. This paper argues that financial constraints may explain why. It studies migrants' selectivity when agents that face credit constraints make joint decisions about how much to invest in education and whether to migrate. The results show that financial constraints can explain the intermediate selection of migrants observed in the data. |
| Keywords: | migration, financial constraints, self-selection, human capital |
| JEL: | O15 O16 R23 |
| Date: | 2010–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ran:wpaper:758&r=mig |
| By: | Roman, Monica; Voicu, Cristina |
| Abstract: | The paper presents the recent labor migration flows and trends and the impacts of these movements on Romanian economic and social life. After Romania joined the EU, the travel of Romanians inside the EU is totally free and they fructified this opportunity. There are important economic consequences of this movement. In the paper we analyze the demographic consequences, since category that emigrated for economic reasons in the last years is composed of youngsters (around 30). There are also important economic consequences on financial aspects and life quality of Romanians, since the volume of remittances was about 7 billion euros in 2007. There is also a social impact particularly on the lives of migrant families. The most problematic issue is the temporary abandonment of minors by their labour migrant parents, and that forced authorities to formulate policies to monitor the situation. |
| Keywords: | regional labour migration; sending countries; human migration trends; migration impacts; Romania; transition economy |
| JEL: | J13 F22 I31 R23 |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:23527&r=mig |
| By: | Phillips, Kerk L. |
| Abstract: | This paper constructs a multi-sector dynamic general equilibrium model for a trading economy. We incorporate three major factors of production: capital, skilled labor & unskilled labor. We solve and calibrate the model using data from Japan and Korea. We then consider changes to immigration policy in both countries. We are able to examine the effects on output, consumption, wages, and utility. We do this for both the new steady state and for the time-path leading to that steady state. In addition, we are able, if we so wish, to impose a series of unrelated macroeconomic shock to the model. This has the advantage of allowing us to calculate confidence bands around our policy impulse response functions. We find that allowing skilled labor to immigrate leads to greater welfare gains in the steady state. We also show that there is a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the exact time path to a new steady state in the presence of the typical fluctuations associated with business cycles. We find a great deal of inertia in the transition to a new steady state. |
| Keywords: | labor migration; factor mobility; dynamic general equilibrium; Japan; Korea; DSGE |
| JEL: | F22 F15 F42 |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:23501&r=mig |
| By: | Hou, Feng |
| Abstract: | We examine whether the factors associated with the rise in the Canadian born - immigrant entry earnings gap played different roles in the 1980s, the 1990s, and the early 2000s. We find that for recent immigrant men, shifts in population characteristics had the most important effect in the 1980s when their earnings gap expanded the most, but this “compositional†effect diminished in the 1990s and early 2000s. The effect of changes in returns to Canadian experience and education was small for men, but stronger for women in all three periods. During the early 2000s the IT bust, combined with a heavy concentration of immigrants in IT-related occupations, was the primary explanation of the increase in their earnings gap. Furthermore, returns to foreign experience declined in the 1980s and 1990s, but recovered moderately in the early 2000s. In contrast, the relative return to immigrant education declined in the early 2000s. |
| Keywords: | Immigrants, Entry Earnings, Decomposition, Canada |
| JEL: | J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2010–06–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ubc:clssrn:clsrn_admin-2010-23&r=mig |
| By: | Dan A. Black; Natalia Kolesnikova; Lowell J. Taylor |
| Abstract: | How significant was the economic progress of African-Americans in the U.S. between 1970 and 2000? In this paper we examine this issue for black men 25-55 years old who live in 14 large U.S. metropolitan areas. We present the evidence that significant racial disparities remain in education and labor market outcomes of black and white men. We discuss changes in industrial composition, migration, and demographic changes that might have contributed to the stagnation of economic progress of black men between 1970 and 2000. In addition, we show that there was no progress in a financial well-being of black children, relative to white children, between 1970 and 2000. |
| Keywords: | African Americans - Economic conditions |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedlwp:2010-015&r=mig |