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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Eva Gutierrez-i-Puigarnau; Jos van Ommeren |
| Abstract: | One of the classic predictions of the urban economic theory is that high-income and low-income households choose different residential locations and therefore, conditional on workplace location, have different commuting patterns. Empirical tests of this theory are not standard, due to unobserved heterogeneity of workers, the presence of residential moving costs and a reverse causational relationship of income and distance. This study seeks to examine the long-run causal effect of household income on the workers’ commute. Using German panel data, our empirical approach entails analysing whether changes in household income lead households to locate farther from their workplace - or closer. In our study, we avoid the need of using instrumental variables to deal with endogenity of household income by observing that commuting may affect wages only when workers change job. Only selecting observations of individuals who keep the same employer and job over the observation period, ensures that an observed change in distance must be due to (exogenous) residence relocation. By formulating the model in terms of first differences, we deal with unobserved heterogeneity. In addition, we focus on changes which occur during a period of at least five years for workers who during this period moved residence at least once. In this way, we identify long-term effects, and avoid that due to the presence of residential moving costs, few workers immediately change commuting distance by moving residence. Our empirical study shows that the long-run income elasticity of commuting distance is positive and around 0.18. The estimated elasticities are higher for single wage-earners than for dual wage-earners, and higher for female workers than for male workers. At least for Germany, these results suggest, as workers tend to commute to workplace locations where land prices are higher, that the income elasticity for residential space exceeds the income elasticity for commuting costs. One of the main consequences of this study is then that in the absence of historic city centres amenities or other amenities close to workplace centres, rich households tend to move farther away from the city centre, as is observed in most US cities. This is in contrast to the results of the seminal paper by Wheaton (1977, AER) which states that the standard urban economics model accidentally does not explain variation in household income over space. Keywords: commuting, income elasticity, wage JEL codes: J3, R21 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p219&r=mig |
| By: | Jordi Jofre-Monseny; Matz Dahlberg; Peter Fredriksson |
| Abstract: | Card et al (2008a) formalize a model of ethnic residential segregation where an ethnically mixed neighborhood is dynamically stable until its minority share reaches a threshold (the tipping point). Once the neighborhood has surpassed the tipping point, it will experience massive white flight. These authors propose methods to identify tipping points and, using population counts at the US Census tract level, find that tipping is a salient feature of neighborhood dynamics. The objective of this paper is to use individual register data from Sweden to provide a more complete and informative description of neighborhood tipping behavior. We find that tipping is explained by both increased out-migration and decreased in-migration of whites, although increased out-migration seems to be more important. Tipping seems to be driven by relatively rich individuals and by individuals with kids, suggesting that tipping behavior may increase segregation of whites in a number of dimensions. School grades of white students are lower in neighborhoods that have tipped, suggesting that families with kids that do well in school leave neighborhoods that are tipping. |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p832&r=mig |
| By: | Antonio Russo; Ian Smith |
| Abstract: | This paper reflects on human mobility ranges and their regional impacts. We first introduce an interpretative framework that situates place populations within a continuum of transiences and intensities: according to this, short- and long-term mobilities, generally associated with a binary of work-related migration and tourism, can be revisioned as a spectrum of fluid situations by which the permanence of people into places results from an articulated range of factors of attraction or place characteristics, and dynamically modifies this context. Indeed we postulate that different attraction factors attract different flows that could be characterised in this way as “regional audiencesâ€; the fact that the same factors could be attractive to different audiences means that regions have to “tune†to an accommodate different users and uses, and as foreseen by Martinotti (1992) in his “four populations†urbanisation model, the success in doing that is a fundamental aspect of sustainable development We then use results from the ESPON 2013 Program (ATTREG project) to classify regions according to the populations that they were able to attract in the 2001-2008 period, and reflect upon the complex process of embedding different “audiences†into places in terms of attraction strategies and issues of resiliency. Our findings challenge the conventional wisdom that migrants are attracted by economic buoyancy and tight labour markets for highly skilled workers, and cast an interesting light about the synergetic effects of different population groups. We show for instance that “tourist regionsâ€, or regions that are particularly endowed for (and have been able to) attracting short-term mobilities, have had a good score in attracting longer-term forms of mobility, but only until economic conditions were favourable and some upper threshold have been reached; whereas regions with lower attractiveness scores have been better able to face the direct effects of the global crisis. Key words: Migration, attraction, territorial capital, tourism JEL codes: J61, R58 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p362&r=mig |
| By: | Daniel Rauhut; Mats Johansson |
| Abstract: | Labour market structures which offer fewer options to women than to men and relatively poor educational facilities are usually mentioned as main reasons why remote and economically weak regions are affected by selective out-migration and shortage of young women. Also traditional gender structures and “macho†lifestyles are often heard motives that influence the out-migration of young women from rural areas. This sex-biased out-migration has been ongoing for more than 40 years for some rural regions in Sweden. This paper is a spin-off product from the ESPON-project SEMIGRA – Selective Migration and Unbalanced Sex Ratio in Rural Regions – and aims to analyse the out-migration of young women from the rural Swedish region Västernorrland. The theoretical frameworks are based upon the neoclassical macro theory of migration and the dual labour market theory in combination with the human capital theory. A qualitative method will be used in the analysis in this study. The empirical material consists of a literature review, a survey to 5,512 teenagers aged 14-17, expert interviews and interviews with young women leaving Västernorrland, returning to Västernorrland or moving in without any prior connection to the region. The driving forces of out-migration of young women appear connected to studies and moving to more female-friendly labour markets. In the household creating ages the findings suggest a return-migration flow with net in-migration as one result: Västernorrland is considered a safe and good place for the children to grow up in. Being close to the grandparents is highly valued, while a consumption-based metropolitan life-style appears less important for the interviewed women. For those who do not return the lack of employment possibilities in their profession appears to be the main reason for not returning. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the young adults, and especially young women, are rational in their decision to move from Västernorrland due to better opportunities to get a job and education. With regard to out-migration, the findings also suggest that young people with an immigrant background experience push-factors natives do not experience: the survey as well as the expert interviews and interviews with young women indicate racism or discrimination based upon ethnicity. |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p148&r=mig |
| By: | Peter Schmidt |
| Abstract: | Comparing the economic development and current situation of the internal markets of the U.S. and the EU, two things are noticeable. On the one hand, the EU is conducting massive regional policy programmes (notably the Structural Funds) to foster economic cohesion among the 27 nations belonging to the Single European Market while in the U.S. with its 50 federal states such policies play a rather subordinate role. At the first glance, this seems to be consistent with the situation in this two markets because in the U.S. only 2\% of the total population lives in regions with less than 75\% of the US-average GDP per capita while in the EU approximately 31\% of the total population lives in such regions eligible for structural funds support. In other words, regional policies in the U.S. would be redundant. But taking a closer look, on the other hand, reveals that the internal mobility of U.S. citizens is significantly higher than that of EU citizens. According to the neoclassical economic theory migration, besides the free flow of goods, services and capital, plays an important role in assuring convergence or economic cohesion, respectively. Following this strand of theory no regional policy is needed to achieve convergence among the regions or nations of a common market. Thus, comparing the two internal markets, the question comes up if the lower degree of economic cohesion in the EU has something to do with the lower internal market mobility of EU citizens and a higher degree of structural intervention of the EU regional policy? To answer this question, the paper consists of three parts. First, the theoretical background concerning migration and the potential need for regional policy is presented, to find out if one of them is a better instrument to achieve a balanced economic development within an internal market. In the second part, we discuss the actual situation of internal migration and examine why migration rates are comparatively low in the EU. In the last part, the interrelation between the EU regional policy and (internal) migration are analysed. Besides other things like language, culture or institutions this paper is going to argue that structural funds are inhibiting internal migration, which is one of the key measures in achieving convergence among the nations in the Single European market. It becomes clear, that the European regional policy aiming at economic cohesion among the 27 member states is inconsistent if the structural funds hamper instead of promoting migration. JEL-Classification: E62, F15, F22 Keywords: Migration, Structural Funds, European Integration Other chosen themes: N. Regional strategies and policies E. Finance and regional development |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p383&r=mig |
| By: | Simonetta Longhi; Magdalena Rokicka |
| Abstract: | The 2004 accession of Eastern European countries to the EU has generated concerns about the influx of low-skill immigrants to those countries which did not impose restrictions to immigration, namely Ireland, Sweden, and the UK. However, there is lack of recent systematic evidence on the level of immigration and the quality of the new immigrants. We focus on the UK and combine the British and the European Labour Force Surveys to analyse whether immigration to the UK has changed substantially before and after the 2004 EU enlargement, and as a consequence of the recent economic downturn. We analyse 1) trends of immigration into the UK of people from Eastern European countries, and how these trends compare to trends in immigration from Western European countries; and 2) how such immigrants fare in the British labour market in terms of employment probability, wages, and job quality compared to British natives, to earlier immigrants, and to people in the country of origin. Keywords: East-West migration, UK labour market, immigrant assimilation JEL Classification: F22; J30; J61 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p145&r=mig |
| By: | Majlinda Joxhe |
| Abstract: | Selection in Return Migration: the Role of the Ethnic Networks Majlinda Joxhe Abstract This paper attempts to identify the peer effects of the ethnic networks on the migration process among return migrants. Exploring a simple theoretical model I show how the size of the network reduce the re-migration cost at different level of education, thus determine a diverse selection process. As Borjas (1985, 1987) evidence, migration is not randomly drawn from the distribution of the home country population and this form of “self-selection†has implications for studying their assimilation. On the other hand, also the out-migration can be selective generating consequences on the performance of the immigrants (Borjas and Bratsberg 1996). Empirically, I find positive selection among districts with weak migration networks and negative selection among districts with strong migration network. Using micro data for the United Kingdom , the empirical evidence reconfirms the theories advocated by Hanson (2005) and Borjas (1997) regarding self-selection on migration. JEL classification: F22; J31; R12 Keywords: Migration; Wage Differential; Ethnic networks; Understanding Society (UK) References: Bellemare, Ch. 2007. 'A Life-Cycle Model of Outmigration and Economic Assimilation of Immigrants in Germany.' European Economic Review, 51, 553-76. Borjas, G.J. 1987. 'Self-Selection and Earnings of Immigrants.' The American Economic Review, 77 (4), 531-53. George J. Borjas and Bernt Bratsberg “Who Leaves? The Outmigration of the Foreign-Born†The Review of Economics and StatisticsVol. 78, No. 1 (Feb., 1996), pp. 165-176 Carrington W. J., Detragiache E., Vishwanath T. 1996. 'Migration with Endogenous Moving Costs.' The American Economic Review, 86 (4), 909-30. Damm, A. P. 2009. 'Determinants of Recent Immigrants’ Location Choices: Quasi-Experimental Evidence.' Journal of Population Economics, 22, 145-74 Djajic S., Milbourne R. 1988. 'A General Equilibrium Model of Guest-Worker Migration.' Journal of International Economics, 25, 335-51. Dustmann Ch. 2003. 'Return Migration, Wage Differentials, and the Optimal Migration Duration.' European Economic Review, 47, 353–69. Dustmann Ch., Weiss Y. 2007. 'Return Migration: Theory and Empirical Evidence from the UK.' British Journal of Industrial Relations, 45 (2), 236–56 Harris J. R., Todaro M. P. 1970. 'Migration, Unemployment and Development: A Two-Sector Analysis ' The American Economic Review, 60 (1), 126-42. Rooth D.-O., Saarela J. 2007. 'Selection in Migration and Return Migration: Evidence from Micro Data.' Economics Letters, 94, 90–95. University of Essex. Institute for Social and Economic Research and National Centre for Social Research, Understanding Society: Wave 1, 2009-2010 [computer file]. 2nd Edition. Colchester, Essex: UK Data Archive [distributor], September 2011. SN: 6614. |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p463&r=mig |
| By: | Regina Flake |
| Abstract: | There is a significantly higher prevalence of multigenerational living arrangements among migrants than among natives in Germany which may be explained with migrants choosing this household structure in order to compensate for economic disadvantages. This hypothesis is tested by analyzing the economic conditions within multigenerational households. The results show that in multigenerational migrant households, more groups contribute significantly to the household income than in comparable native households – in particular in households below the at-risk-of-poverty line. On the individual level, the results reveal that migrant children in multigenerational households have lower labor force participation rates than native children or migrant children in other household types. Therefore, this study provides evidence for a correlation between multigenerational cohabitation and economic conditions among migrants. |
| Keywords: | Migration; household structure; integration |
| JEL: | F22 J12 J20 J30 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0366&r=mig |
| By: | Wibke Strahl; Ingrid Machold; Thomas Dax |
| Abstract: | In spite of an unbroken interest of migrants for metropolitan areas and cities, the immigration of foreign people into rural, and as well peripheral, regions of Austria increasingly receives attention over recent years. Actually, 21% of the population of foreign origin live in municipalities with less than 5,000 inhabitants. In more and more peripheral regions population losses caused by a low birth rate and a negative internal migration can be significantly reduced by a positive external (i.e. international) migration balance. These demographic changes lead also to an increase in the diversity of society of rural regions. Many analysts underpin the additional potential provided through a multi-cultural society resulting in new ideas and innovative activities for regional policy, in addition to the more popular concerns for adaptation and integration challenges. This paper draws from a national project on international migration processes and their impact on rural regions of Austria, providing an analysis of statistical data of internal and external migration flows, changes in the demographic structure, and differentiation of migrants according to their countries of origin for the period 2002-2010. The analysis is carried out at the regional level of NUTS 3 and uses the up-dated EU-Commission’s classification based on the OECD typology (Dijkstra and Poelman 2008). Furthermore, the paper will offer initial insights into empirical data about the motivation of immigrants to settle in rural regions and their functions within local communities. Thus, the paper focuses on the assessment of development opportunities for rural regions which are characterized by shrinking processes and the related challenges in terms of maintaining services of general interests, which could benefit from migration processes. The regional manifestations of these migration processes are systematically analysed so as to filter out so-called migration “hot spots†in Austrian rural regions. On this basis two case study regions were selected for empirical investigations about motives, challenges and socio-economic impacts of immigrants on remote rural areas. Information, gained primarily by face-to-face interviews and focus groups conversations both among migrants and the host society itself, and case studies from the current implementation of the key activity “diversity and space†of the new Austrian Spatial Development Concept (ÖREK 2011) will be presented. |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p297&r=mig |
| By: | Jing Liu; Brigitte Waldorf (Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Agriculture, Purdue University, W. Lafayette, IN) |
| Abstract: | The paper focuses on body weight gain among immigrants in the US. The emphasis is on disentangling different time lines that are relevant in the context of immigration and acculturation, namely length of exposure to the high obesity culture, age at immigration, year of immigration and aging. Using data from the National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS), we find that (1) acculturation is associated with higher BMIs for the 1st generation, but not the 1.5 generation; (2) immigration at an early age (before 12) facilitates acculturation progress and drives BMI convergence to natives; (3) the effect of sojourn length in the host country is unstable across model specifications; (4) BMI differences between Asian and Latino immigrants are partly due to effect size differences in the acculturation variables. |
| Keywords: | immigration, obesity, acculturation |
| JEL: | I10 J15 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pae:wpaper:12-1&r=mig |
| By: | Klaus Nowotny |
| Abstract: | Stylized facts show that migrants more often face overqualified employment than natives. As shown by previous research, one third of the employed foreign born with tertiary education in the EU-15 are overqualified, with levels reaching up to 57.6%, compared to 20.9% among natives. Among the employed foreign born with medium education levels (ISCED 3-4), about one fifth (19.8%) is overqualified in the EU-15, compared to 7.4% of the natives. For the U.S., research shows that among employed migrants with tertiary education who immigrated in the 1990s only 21-76% obtained skilled jobs, depending on the country of origin. Whether this 'brain waste' is 'involuntary', e.g., the result of labor market discrimination or due to limited transferability of qualifications, or 'voluntary' is, however, unresolved; migrants may be willing to accept a job-skill-mismatch as long as they receive a compensation for working in overqualified employment. This paper therefore analyzes the impact of the willingness to accept overqualified employment on the reservation wage of prospective medium and highly skilled migrants. The empirical analysis uses individual level data surveyed in 2010 in Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. The survey was designed to identify migration and cross-border commuting intentions in these four countries and is especially suited to the analysis in this paper because it avoids the selection problems which would be associated with estimating migrants' reservation wages after migration. The theoretical and empirical models in this paper show that overqualified employment is not necessarily the outcome of labor market discrimination of migrants in the host country, but can also represent the migrant's rational choice as long as she is compensated for the disutility of the job-skill mismatch by a higher wage: according to the empirical estimates the compensation required for accepting overqualified employment abroad is about 11% of the income the individual could earn at home. Furthermore, the relative reservation wage increases with age. A higher income at home on the other hand decreases the relative reservation wage, but the income variable is only significant at the 10% level. The estimated parameters of the country fixed effects show that even after controlling for individual characteristics the relative reservation wage in the CEECs considered (the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary) is considerably higher than in Austria: according to the regression results, potential migrants from the CEE countries require a relative reservation wage that is 100-150% higher than those of prospective Austrian migrants. Keywords: brain waste, overqualification, migration, reservation wage, interval regression JEL codes: 15, J24, J31, F22, C24 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p287&r=mig |
| By: | Torben Kuhlenkasper; Max Friedrich Steinhardt |
| Abstract: | The paper provides new evidence on the outmigration of foreign-born immigrants. We make use of data from the German Socio-Economic Panel and employ penalised spline smoothing in the context of a Poisson-type Generalised Additive Mixed Model (GAMM), which enables us to incorporate bivariate interaction effects. A unique feature is the use of data from dropout studies to identify outmigration. For Turkish immigrants, outmigration is characterized by positive skill selection intensifying the initial negative selection process. For Non-Turkish immigrants we instead find a u-shaped pattern between human capital and outmigration. Finally, we discover substantial variation in emigration behaviour during the life-cycle. |
| Keywords: | Emigration, self-selection, German Socio-Economic Panel, generalised additive mixed models |
| JEL: | C14 C51 F22 J61 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp490&r=mig |
| By: | Florian Lehmer; Johannes Ludsteck |
| Abstract: | Using longitudinal employment register data this study analyzes the development of outcomes of male foreign workers from all important sending countries across time. Cohort analyses on persons entering the German labour market between 1995 and 2000 show significant differences in the assimilation processes between nationalities. We examine the sources of wage assimilation for migrants in Germany by estimating fixed effects regressions for migrants and Germans separately. Based on the estimated coefficients, we assess the contributions of the various right hand side variables to wage convergence between migrants compared to native Germans by generating predictions and by averaging them by year. This approach allows to decompose the wage adjustment of foreigners into three components: the adjustment due to observed time-varying characteristics as e.g. tenure or change of industries/occupations, the adjustment due to selectivity effects and a third component capturing the adjustment due to unobserved time-varying factors and age. If all migrants are tarred with the same brush (by pooling them into one group), we find that the raw wage gap (compared to native Germans) decreases from -50 percent in the year 2000 to -40 percent in 2008. According to the decomposition results this wage assimilation of 10 percentage points can almost completely be traced back to time-varying observable characteristics. Migrants increase their wages over time mainly by changing their workplaces into larger firms, by accumulating firm-specific human capital and by sorting themselves into better-paying industries and occupations. Furthermore, employment stability contributes to the wage convergence as well as changes to German citizenship. Selectivity- and age/trend- effects play only a minor role here. However, these results from a ‘one size fits all model’ pooling all migrants into one group mask considerably heterogeneity between countries. The large size of our data allows us to differentiate between 30 nationality groups. We observe that the wage assimilation is significantly higher for countries with a small entry wage gap compared to German natives. It turns out that a large proportion of the total wage adjustment can be explained by selectivity effects especially for migrants from countries with large wage increases whereas adjustment is mainly driven by time-varying observable characteristics for countries in the midfield of the adjustment ranking.. In summary, the nationality-specific results reveal considerable heterogeneity regarding adjustment and its causes, indicating that effective migrant policy should account for that by creating nationality-specific integration measures. |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p262&r=mig |
| By: | Michael Lucht; Anette Haas |
| Abstract: | Economic debate about the consequences of immigration in Germany has largely focused on the wage effects for natives at an aggregate level. Especially the role of imperfect substitutability of migrants and natives gained importance. A new topic is to focus on the firm level by estimating production functions in an equilibrium framework to gain information about substitution elasticity. Additionally recent literature emphasizes the impact of the task dimension beside the qualification of workers: migrants are heavily concentrated in agglomerations and work in different jobs than natives do. This gives an explanation on the micro level for imperfect substitutability. The task approach is thus a key to understand imperfect substitution on the firm level. Our contribution in this article is manifold: we examine the effects of the relative (dis-)advantages in performing certain tasks and draw implications on the labor market outcomes. Using this we construct a simple model with a monopolistic competition framework a la Dixit-Stiglitz considering heterogeneous firms with different productivity levels and two types of jobs for migrants and natives. Firms differ in the ability to employ migrants which gives rise to wage differences between natives and migrants. This wage differences lead to wage cost advantages for firms. In the long run equilibrium only those firms with survive in the market which have a sufficiently high productivity level or can compensate their lower productivity level by wage cost advantages. We show that the increase of productivity might be explained by a higher migrant share. Regional disparities in our model stem from the unequal distribution of migrants. Thus part of the agglomeration advantages can be explained by the empirical stable observation that migrants tend to move to cities. The conclusions of the model are in line with three empirical facts in Germany. Firstly, the average productivity of firms is higher in cities where also the migrant share is higher. Secondly, the wage difference between migrants and natives in a region is increasing in the share of migrants in that region. Thirdly, less productive firms are more likely to employ a higher share of migrants, as wage advantages and productivity acts as a substitute. keywords: immigration, firm heterogeneity, skills, tasks, regional labor markets JEL: R23, J15, J24, J61 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p894&r=mig |
| By: | Annekatrin Niebuhr; Tanja Buch; Silke Hamann; Anja Rossen |
| Abstract: | The population growth of cities in industrialized countries is characterized by striking disparities. While some cities experience a kind of resurgence in recent years others suffer from an ongoing depopulation. In this context an important issue refers to the question whether labour market conditions or amenities primarily account for the huge differences in cities’ demographic prospects. We investigate the determinants of migration balances of German cities focusing on mobility of workers and the significance of jobs and amenities. With investigating cities’ migration balances we choose a rather direct measure of urban attractiveness – in contrast to studies that use employment growth or other indicators. Both the striking and persistent disparities in labour market performance and amenities across cities and the high internal migration – in particular between East and West Germany – predestine the country for an analysis of the determinants of urban migration balances. Moreover, massive demographic changes are already visible in several regions, notably in East Germany, and affect the economic and social perspectives of cities. The regression analysis rests on a panel data set that covers the period from 2000 to 2007. In order to deal with unobserved heterogeneity and bias due to endogenous regressors fixed effects models and instrument variable estimation are applied. Our results suggest that different groups of factors influence the urban net migration rates. Local labour market conditions influence the mobility decision but amenities matter too. There is some indication that relatively high wages, low unemployment and especially the creation of new jobs attracts mobile workers. Moreover, the quality of life that a city offers is an important factor for the migration balance. This is in particular reflected by the robust effects of the urban recreation area and the average flat size. Our findings also point to relevance of climatic conditions and accessibility. Beyond we identify a size effect, i.e. large cities seem to be ceteris paribus more attractive than small cities. This suggests that agglomeration economies impact on the migration decision of workers. Residents of larg cities seem to benefit from consumption of goods such as theatres and other cultural infrastructure that are only supplied if demand exceeds a certain threshold. But the positive correlation between city size and region specific effects might also reflect matching externalities that arise in large (labour) markets. |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p401&r=mig |
| By: | Barrett, Alan (Trinity College Dublin); Mosca, Irene (Trinity College Dublin) |
| Abstract: | Between 2009 and 2011, fieldwork was undertaken for the first wave of the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA). Extension information was collected on about 8,500 people aged 50 and over and living in Ireland, covering topics such as economic circumstances and health. One of the features of Ireland's older population is the remarkably high proportion of returned migrants, that is, former emigrants who have returned to live in Ireland. According to the TILDA data over 20 per cent of Ireland's over 50s are returned migrants. This group represents a sub-population who is likely to have faced specific challenges over the life-course and who may now have specific circumstances and needs. The group also provides an opportunity to explore the impacts of migration through the generally under-utilised approach of comparing stayers and returners. In this paper, the authors report on work which has been undertaken on return migrants using the TILDA data. This work has revealed higher rates of childhood abuse victimhood among the returned migrants, higher rates of alcohol problems among some of them and higher rates of social isolation. The work can inform the design of social policy within Ireland. It can also add to the international literature on the impacts of migration over the life-course. |
| Keywords: | return migrants, older adults, social isolation, child abuse, alcoholism |
| JEL: | J14 J15 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6878&r=mig |
| By: | Simona Iammarino (Department of Geography & Environment, London School of Economics and Political Science); Elisabetta Marinelli (European Commission JRC-IPTS, Sevilla, Spain) |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:img:wpaper:8&r=mig |
| By: | Angelika Jaeger; Fabian Kreutzer |
| Abstract: | The influence of tertiary education on the economic development of a region is a topic of special interest and prevalent object of studies and discussions of regional economists. Universities are frequently referred to as 'creative hubs'. Researching universities are generally expected to be one of the key institutions around which growth occurs, determining the direction of regional economic development. Especially the large number of highly-educated graduates is of eminent importance in terms of regional competitive advantages. If graduates remain in the university's region, they form and enrich a highly educated labour force and support knowledge and innovation transfer from the university to the regional economy, networks, and enterprises. Human capital has traditionally been observed to be one of the most important resources of regions and one of the key factors explaining economic growth. In any economic region, gaining insights into the phenomenon of regional graduate migration and the determinants and reasons behind it is highly relevant for regional economic analysis and a prerequisite for policy recommendations. This holds especially true for old industrial regions with structural problems and low economic growth potential - as the Central Lower Rhine Area in North-Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, subject of this study. These regions depend on knowledge and innovation transfer from universities to overcome problems associated with industrial structural changes and market turmoil, and to face problematic trends as the forthcoming demographic development. The research aim of this article is to analyse the migration of graduates in the Central Lower Rhine Area by assessing the regional 'brain flow' originating from the Niederrhine University of Applied Sciences (NR UAS), its only institution of higher education. More detailed objectives concern the assessment of the distribution of migration patterns, migration motives, graduate characteristics influencing the migration decision, and the comparison of actual migration patterns with migration preferences. Our results show that for the Central Lower Rhine Area, the associated regional brain drain resulting from graduate emigration cannot be compensated by extra-regional brain gain. A likely reason for this is a deficit of absorption capacity exhibited by the regional economy: A large proportion of graduates migrate due to difficulties finding an adequate job, or respectively, are attracted by economically better performing regions. Furthermore, econometric analysis identifies certain graduate characteristics influencing the migration decision. Remarkably, the migration decision is only marginally influenced by soft location factors like quality of living, regional image, or recreational amenities. Summarized, the research findings describe, interpret, and explain the regional graduate migration patterns and motives and indicate interesting implications. JEL classification: I 23, O15 Keywords: University Graduates, Migration Patterns, Determinants and Motives, Alumni Network |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p734&r=mig |
| By: | Josep-Maria Arauzo-Carod; Daniel Liviano-SolÃs |
| Abstract: | This paper is about determinants of migration at a local level. We use data from Catalan municipalities in order to understand what explains migration patterns of population between 2004 and 2010. The contribution of this paper is to present an empirical application made using data from municipalities in Catalonia between 2004 and 2010. This is a period in which economic activity increases considerably, with the exception of the period 2008-2010, characterised by the start of the economic crisis. The growth in terms of GDP and workforce attracted a lot of international migrants due to a growing demand of low-skilled jobs. At the same time, house prices rose considerably at the main urban areas, a situation that pushed young educated couples from the centre of these areas to the surrounding (cheaper) municipalities, in a typical example of counterurbanization, where migrations movements are from urban to rural areas. Given the characteristics and typologies of Catalan migration movements, in this paper we will focus at intra-regional migrations, which are of considerable importance during the period analysed here. Our results show the importance of counterurbanization and suggest that migration determinants do not affect all types of municipalities in the same way. |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p500&r=mig |
| By: | Carmen Beatrice Pauna; Frank Heins |
| Abstract: | The presentation intends to analyse population change in Romania after 1989 in a regional prospective. Absolute population change and the changes in the age structure as well as internal and international migrations are put into relation to the labour market changes. In the last two decades the Romanian regions experienced a decline of fertility and an increase in the share of the working age population. The share of the population 65 years and older is still relatively low. This demographic situation, combined with a weak labour market (low labour force demand) leads to various forms of underemployment of the active population and to high emigration. Romanians are the most numerous EU-immigrants to EU-27 Member States. The demographic and economic importance of these migration flows will be analysed and their mid- and long-term sustainability will be discussed. The demographic outlook for the future decades and the possible consequences for the labour force supply are based on the various scenarios and international and national population projections for Romania at regional level. The steep population decline projected in some of the scenarios could cause considerable challenges for the economic and social situation of the Romanian regions. |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p582&r=mig |