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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Matz Dahlberg (Uppsala University; IFAU; CESifo; UCFS; UCLS; IEB); Karin Edmark (IFN; IFAU; UCFS; UCLS); Heléne Lundqvist (Uppsala University; UCFS; UCLS) |
| Abstract: | In recent decades, the immigration of workers and refugees to Europe has increased substantially, and the composition of the population in many countries has consequently become much more heterogeneous in terms of ethnic background. If people exhibit in-group bias in the sense of being more altruistic to one's own kind, such increased heterogeneity will lead to reduced support for redistribution among natives. This paper exploits a nationwide program placing refugees in municipalities throughout Sweden during the period 1985{94 to isolate exogenous variation in immigrant shares. We match data on refugee placement to panel survey data on inhabitants of the receiving municipalities to estimate the causal effects of increased immigrant shares on preferences for redistribution. The results show that a larger immigrant population leads to less support for redistribution in the form of preferred social benet levels. This reduction in support is especially pronounced for respondents with high income and wealth. We also establish that OLS estimators that do not properly deal with endogeneity problems|as in earlier studies|are likely to yield positively biased (i.e., less negative) effects of ethnic heterogeneity on preferences for redistribution. |
| Keywords: | Income redistribution, ethnic heterogeneity, immigration |
| JEL: | D31 D64 I3 Z13 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:2011/1/doc2011-2&r=mig |
| By: | Benton, M.E. |
| Abstract: | Political philosophers have generally assumed that all residents of states are citizens, and vice versa. But the changing face of migration from permanent, ‘settler’ migration to temporary, multiple migration means that ‘denizenship’ – the state of being a resident non-citizen – can no longer be considered anomalous. Denizenship is clearly a less favourable status than citizenship. However, little has been done to explore this intuition. To the extent that immigration has been theorised, it has been according to three main dimensions. The first considers first admission, the second what rights denizens are entitled to, and the third what conditions states can set on citizenship acquisition. Part 1 of my thesis examines and identifies the limitations with these existing approaches. I argue that, by identifying the problem of denizenship with the absence of legal rights, the rights approach cannot specify the conditions under which it is problematic for denizens to enjoy fewer of the rights of citizenship. It also takes insufficient account of the way in which states lack the incentive to protect their non-citizen population. The citizenship acquisition approach, on the other hand, is not sensitive enough to deal with the different claims of vulnerable groups of migrants. In Part 2 I advance an alternative framework for addressing the problem of denizenship structured around the republican ideal of non-domination. First, I develop a conception of domination as dependence on unaccountable power. Second, I apply this conception to the case study of denizens and to different groups of vulnerable migrants. I find that denizens as a group are vulnerable to domination, and that they encompass vulnerability subgroups, including refugees and undocumented migrants. Finally, I outline features of a domination-reducing policy approach to migration. I suggest that domination can inform policies in four areas: improving the accountability of states to their non-citizen population; empowering denizens in their private relationships; reducing domination in immigration policy; and reducing arbitrariness in citizenship acquisition. |
| Date: | 2010–11–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:ucllon:http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/624490/&r=mig |
| By: | Karpestam, Peter (Department of Economics, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | Theoretical and empirical research points to potentially different patterns of labor recruitment and importance of social networks in the formal and informal sector. The paper touches upon this topic and investigates the conjecture that employment chances and expected earnings depend differently on individuals’ allocation of time and mobility patterns in the informal and formal sector. This is investigated in a LDC context using a household survey from Guatemala (Encovi 2000). The results suggest that the probability to obtain employment in agriculture (informal sector) increases with the amount of time spent at the current residence. The results are reversed for (informal) uncovered wage workers. For the (informal) self-employed and the formal sector (covered wage workers) the results does not display any evident patterns. Merging all segments of the informal sector, the results show that expected earnings in the informal sector are slightly reduced by time not spent at the current residence. |
| Keywords: | The Informal Sector; Labor; Migration; Time; Central America; Guatemala. |
| JEL: | D13 J60 J70 O17 R23 |
| Date: | 2011–01–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lunewp:2011_003&r=mig |
| By: | Ortega, Javier (City University London); Verdugo, Gregory (Bank of France) |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates the impact of immigration on the labor market outcomes of natives in France over the period 1962-1999. Combining large (up to 25%) extracts from six censuses and data from Labor Force Surveys, we exploit the variation in the immigrant share across education/experience cells and over time to identify the impact of immigration. In the Borjas (2003) specification, we find that a 10% increase in immigration increases native wages by 3%. However, as the number of immigrants and the number of natives are positively and strongly correlated across cells, the immigrant share may not be a good measure of the immigration shock. When the log of natives and the log of immigrants are used as regressors instead, the impact of immigration on natives' wages is still positive but much smaller, and natives’ wages are negatively related to the number of natives. To understand this asymmetry and the positive impact of immigration on wages, we explore the link between immigration and the occupational distribution of natives within education/experience cells. Our results suggest that immigration leads to the reallocation of natives to better-paid occupations within education/experience cells. |
| Keywords: | immigration, occupations |
| JEL: | J15 J31 |
| Date: | 2011–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5451&r=mig |
| By: | McDonald, James Ted; Worswick, Christopher |
| Abstract: | Immigrant men and women in Canada from recent arrival cohorts have especially low rates of having an apprenticeship credential when compared to either their counterparts from earlier arrival cohorts or the Canadian born. Among the native born, a second generation man is more likely to have completed an apprenticeship if his father’s generation of immigrant men in Canada (from the same source country) have a high probability of apprenticeship completion. The same effect is present for first generation men who arrived in Canada as children. However, this effect is not found for either first generation or second generation women. An analysis of earnings indicates a strong wage return from the completion of an apprenticeship in Canada is found for men. However, women who have completed an apprenticeship in Canada actually have lower weekly earnings than women with only a high school diploma. The empirical results suggest that the increased emphasis on university education in the selection of economic immigrants is creating an imbalance between the supply of both first and second generation immigrants with an apprenticeship, and the demand for workers with these credentials. |
| Keywords: | Apprenticeships, Education, Immigration, and Second Generation |
| JEL: | J1 I2 |
| Date: | 2011–01–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ubc:clssrn:clsrn_admin-2011-3&r=mig |
| By: | Verdugo, Gregory (Bank of France) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the evolution of the residential segregation of immigrants between and within urban areas in France from 1968 to 1999 using census data. During this period, European and non-European immigrant segregation followed diverging trends. This paper documents the large increase in public housing participation rates of non-European immigrants after 1980 and highlights how public housing participation is related to contemporary segregation. At the macro-geographical level, results indicate a decrease in the concentration of immigrants across urban areas, showing a lower concentration of non-European immigrants living in public housing across urban areas. Within cities, national origin segregation was predominant until 1968 for all groups and declined afterward, particularly for European immigrants. For non-European immigrants participating in public housing, the decline in segregation by national origin has been counterbalanced by an increase in regional segregation. Immigrants of different national origins have increasingly clustered in the same public housing neighborhoods. In 1999, immigrants in public housing experienced higher segregation levels than immigrants in private housing, particularly non-European immigrants. I find no relationship between differences in average arrival year and differences in segregation levels across immigrant groups. |
| Keywords: | public housing, immigration, segregation, France |
| JEL: | J61 J18 J15 |
| Date: | 2011–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5456&r=mig |
| By: | Karpestam, Peter (Department of Economics, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | Residents in rural China doubt the benefits from education, yet there is empirical evidence supporting positive effects in urban and rural areas. This paper investigates whether education affects a variety of income attainment indicators for households in rural China, using a household survey from the provinces of Hebei and Liaoning. The analysis estimates education effects for household residents, but also for temporary migrants (rural-urban migrants) and children who have moved permanently (rural-rural migrants). This can help to answer a set of three related questions: 1) Does household welfare in rural China depend on education? 2) Is the effect of education contingent on the decision to migrate? and 3) Does education have dissimilar effect for rural-urban and rural-rural migrants? The results support that education has positive income effects and that migration yields no additional payoffs. However, there is no evidence that households benefit from higher education if migration is only temporary. Altogether, this signals positive payoffs of educational expenses to rural households but households which consider sending a migrant into the urban labor force are better off if the more educated stay at home. |
| Keywords: | East Asia; China; Education; Migration; Remittances; Non-Farm Incomes; |
| JEL: | D13 F24 I20 J60 R23 |
| Date: | 2011–01–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lunewp:2011_002&r=mig |
| By: | Zhang, Junfu (Clark University); Zhao, Zhong (Renmin University of China) |
| Abstract: | We hypothesize that individuals with a larger social-family network are more likely to choose self-employment. We test this hypothesis using data on temporary rural-urban migrants in China. The size of a migrant’s social-family network is measured by the number of relatives and friends this migrant greeted during the past Spring Festival. Our empirical analysis faces two challenges. First, there is an endogeneity problem in that a migrant may want to develop and maintain a large social-family network exactly because he is self-employed. For this reason, a simple correlation between the probability of being self-employed and the size of the migrant’s social-family network cannot be interpreted as causal. Second, the size of the social-family network is measured using survey data, which is subject to measurement error. To overcome these problems, we take an instrumental variable (IV) approach. More specifically, we examine the distance an individual migrated when he first moved to a city and use this variable to instrument for the current size of the social-family network. We establish the credibility of the IV by emphasizing the unique institutional context of rural-urban migration in China and focusing on the sample of migrants who originally started as wage workers in urban areas and currently are not in their first jobs. Our IV results indeed show that a rural-urban migrant with a larger social-family network is more likely to be self-employed in the city. This finding is robust to alternative model specifications and various restrictions on the sample used in estimation. |
| Keywords: | social-family network, self-employment, rural-urban migrants |
| JEL: | J23 J61 D85 |
| Date: | 2011–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5446&r=mig |
| By: | Magnus Hatlebakk; Vegard Iversen; Gaute Torsvik |
| Abstract: | We study how local connections to persons in influential positions affect access to lucrative international migrant jobs and attractive government employment. In rural Nepal, it would not be surprising if social status, captured by a household’s caste but also by wealth or education, strongly influenced or perhaps even exclusively determined the access to attractive labour market opportunities. This is not the case. Although much of the variation in migration can be attributed to wealth, education and social identity, household networks have a separate impact on external employment. Well-connected households are more likely to get government jobs and appear to have favorable access to the manpower agencies and the informal loans required to finance migration to the Persian Gulf or Malaysia. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chm:wpaper:wp2010-3&r=mig |
| By: | Christian EBEKE |
| Abstract: | This paper shows that countries which allow a dual citizenship status for their international migrants receive on average more remittances than others. Using a cross-section of 104 developing countries with data averaged over the period 2000-2008, I distinguish between the direct effect of the dual citizenship status (incentive to remit more) and an indirect effect which passes through migration incentives. Results indicate that the direct effect of the recognition of the dual-citizenship is higher. Finally, the paper shows that remittance inflows are more likely to foster private investment in receiving countries which recognize a dual citizenship status for their migrants. These results are robust to alternative uses of datasets on dual-citizenship codification and to the instrumentation of remittances in the private investment model. |
| Keywords: | Dual-citizenship, Remittances, investment, developing countries |
| JEL: | O2 E22 F22 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdi:wpaper:1234&r=mig |
| By: | Elke Holst; Andrea Schäfer; Mechthild Schrooten |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we focus on network- and gender-specific determinants of remittances, which are often explained theoretically by way of intra-family contracts. We develop a basic formal concept that includes aspects of the transnational network and derive hypotheses from it. For our empirical investigation, we use data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) for the years 2001-2006. Our findings show: first, the fact that foreign women remit less money than foreign men can be explained by the underlying transnational network contract. Second, remittances sent by foreigners and naturalized immigrants have at least partly different determinants. Acquiring German citizenship increases the probability of family reunification in the destination country and decreases remittances. Third, the structure of the existing social network in Germany and the network structure in the home country both play important roles in explaining remittances. |
| Keywords: | Remittances, gender, foreigners, naturalized migrants |
| JEL: | F22 J16 D13 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp354&r=mig |
| By: | Karpestam, Peter (Department of Economics, Lund University); Andersson, Fredrik N G (Department of Economics, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | We study the determinants of remittances to developing countries at different time horizons. Remittances to developing countries nowadays exceed official development assistance and constitute a significant fraction of the disposable income of many households in developing countries. Different hypotheses suggest that remittances are often sent to compensate for low incomes, which may impose a downward bias when estimating their effects on the economic development (e.g. growth, poverty and consumption) in recipient countries. Two popular hypotheses about the causes of remittances are the altruism and insurance hypothesis. Both hypotheses suggest that remittances are sent to compensate for short-run economic declines, but the altruism hypotheses also predict that remittances should diminish gradually over time as the economic development in the receiving countries proceeds and the need for outside assistance decreases. Hence, the altruism hypothesis predicts a negative correlation between the economic conditions in the receiving countries and remittances in the long-run and the short-run, while the insurance hypothesis only predicts a negative relationship in the short run. We can thus test which hypothesis that is best supported the data by studying the correlation between remittances and consumption in receiving countries at different time horizons. For this purpose we use a macroeconomic panel with consumption and remittances data from 50 low and middle income economies between 1980 and 2006. We estimate Keynesian consumption functions with GDP and remittances per capita as explanatory variables for the full panel and for different subpanels. The data is decomposed into different time horizons using a maximal overlap discrete wavelet transform. We are not aware of any study which uses similar econometric techniques to test different hypotheses about the underlying causes of remittances. Our evidence predominantly supports a negative long-run relationship, which favours the altruism over the insurance hypothesis. |
| Keywords: | Remittances; Altruism; Insurance Hypothesis |
| JEL: | C23 C33 E27 F24 |
| Date: | 2011–01–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lunewp:2011_001&r=mig |
| By: | Gubert, Flore; Lassourd, Thomas; Mesplé-Somps, Sandrine |
| Abstract: | Cet article examine l’impact distributif des transferts des migrants au Mali, à partir de l’enquête sur les niveaux de vie elim 2006. Nous construisons différents scénarios contrefactuels qui corrigent du biais de sélection des ménages avec migrants. Nous montrons que les transferts des migrants internationaux réduisent la pauvreté de 5 à 11 % au niveau national et l’indice de Gini d’environ 5 %. Les ménages appartenant aux quintiles les plus pauvres apparaissent plus dépendants des transferts pour assurer leur consommation du fait de dotations en capital physique et humain insuffisantes pour leur permettre d’accéder à d’autres sources de revenu. |
| Abstract: | Using a 2006 household survey in Mali, we compare current poverty rates and inequality levels with counterfactual ones in the absence of migration and remittances. With proper hypotheses on migrants and a selection model, we are able to impute a counterfactual income for households currently receiving remittances. We show that remittances reduce poverty rates by 5% to 11% and the Gini coefficient by about 5%. Households in the bottom quintiles are more dependent on remittances, which are less substitutable by additional workforce. |
| Keywords: | poverty; Afrique; inégalité; Migration; Remittances; pauvreté; Transferts; inequality; Africa; |
| JEL: | O55 O15 F24 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:dauphi:urn:hdl:123456789/4711&r=mig |