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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Osea Giuntella; Fabrizio Mazzonna |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effects of immigration on health. We merge information on individual characteristics from the German Socio-Economic Panel (1984-2010) with detailed local labour market characteristics and exploit the longitudinal component of the data to analyse how immigration affects the health of both immigrants and natives over time. Upon their arrival, immigrants are found to be healthier than the natives (healthy immigrant effect), but their health deteriorates over time spent in Germany. We show that the convergence in health is heterogeneous across immigrants and occurs more rapidly among those working in more physically demanding jobs. Immigrants are significantly more likely to work in strenuous occupations. In light of these facts, we investigate whether changes in the spatial concentration of immigrants affect the health of the native population. Our results suggest that immigration reduces the likelihood that residents report negative health outcomes. We show that these effects are concentrated in blue-collar occupations and are larger among low educated natives and previous cohorts of immigrants. The improvement in the average working conditions and workload of natives contributes to explain the positive effect of immigration on the health of the native population. |
| Keywords: | Health, immigration, occupational choice |
| JEL: | I12 J24 J61 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp653&r=mig |
| By: | Viola Angelini; Laura Casi; Luca Corazzini |
| Abstract: | We empirically assess the relationship between cultural assimilation and subjective well-being of immigrants by using the German Socio-Economic Panel, a longitudinal dataset including information on both the economic and non-economic conditions of the respondents. We find that the more immigrants identify with the German culture and fluently speak the national language, the more they report to be satisfied with their lives. This result is robust to several potential confounding factors, including a large number of individual variables (demographic, educational, social, economic and health), labour market outcomes and the external social conditions of the immigrant. |
| Keywords: | assimilation, identity, life-satisfaction, immigration |
| JEL: | J15 I31 Z10 F22 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp654&r=mig |
| By: | Bernt Bratsberg (Frisch Centre for Economic Research); Oddbjørn Raaum (Frisch Centre for Economic Research); Knut Røed (Frisch Centre for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | Using longitudinal data from the date of arrival, we study longâ€term labor market and social insurance outcomes for all major immigrant cohorts to Norway since 1970. Immigrants from highincome countries performed as natives, while labor migrants from lowâ€income source countries had declining employment rates and increasing disability program participation over the lifecycle. Refugees and family migrants assimilated during the initial period upon arrival, but labor market convergence halted after a decade and was accompanied by rising social insurance rates. For the children of labor migrants of the 1970s, we uncover evidence of intergenerational assimilation in education, earnings and fertility. |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:1426&r=mig |
| By: | Christina Gathmann; Nicolas Keller |
| Abstract: | Immigrants in many countries have lower employment rates and earnings than natives. We study whether the option to naturalize improves immigrant assimilation. The empirical analysis relies on two major immigration reforms in Germany, acountry with a weak record of immigrant integration. Using discontinuities in the reforms' eligibility rules, we find few returns of citizenship for men, but substantial returns for women. Returns are also larger for more recent immigrants, but essentially zero for traditional guest workers. For immigrant women, access to citizenship accounts for 70% of the assimilation rate, i.e. the wage return of an additional year in Germany. |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp656&r=mig |
| By: | Joseph, George; Wodon, Quentin; Liverani, Andrea; Blankespoor, Brian |
| Abstract: | Concerns abound about the potential impact of climate change on future migration, especially in the Middle East and North Africa, one of the regions that is likely to suffer the most from climate change. Yet it is not clear whether so far climate patterns have been a key driver of internal migration in countries such as Yemen, despite the pressures created by water scarcity. By combining data from Yemen’s latest census and a weather database as well as other geographic information, we analyze the determinants of past net internal migration rates. Next, using future climate change scenarios, we predict the potential impact of rising temperatures on future net internal migration rates. The results suggest that while climate does have an impact on net internal migration rates, this impact is limited, so that on the basis of past patterns of climate and migration, rising temperature may not have a large impact on future net internal migration. |
| Keywords: | Climate change, Migration, Yemen |
| JEL: | R23 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:56937&r=mig |
| By: | Kris Inwood; Chris Minns; Lee Summerfield |
| Abstract: | This paper uses Canadian Census data from 1911 to 1931 to trace the labour market assimilation of immigrants up to the onset of the Great Depression. We find that substantial earnings convergence between 1911 and 1921 was reversed between 1921 and 1931, with immigrants from Continental Europe experiencing a sharp decline in earnings relative to the native-born. The effect of Depression labour market conditions were particularly pronounced among older immigrants with long tenures in Canada. |
| Keywords: | Canada; Immigrants; Assimilation; Earnings; Wages; Early 20th Century; Great Depression; Labour Markets |
| JEL: | O51 N0 F54 J61 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:wpaper:57209&r=mig |
| By: | Jakobsson, Niklas (Norwegian Social Research (NOVA)); Tengstam, Sven (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University) |
| Abstract: | This note studies the impact of immigration on welfare state generosity in 12 Western European countries. In estimations not coping with the possible endogeneity problem, there are indications of a negative relationship between immigration and welfare state generosity. However, when the distance to the Balkan wars are used as a source of exogenous variation in the immigrant share, as to overcome potential endogeneity in mobility across countries, our findings suggest that an increase in the immigrant share does not decrease welfare state generosity. |
| Keywords: | benefit generosity; immigration; social spending; welfare benefit |
| JEL: | F22 H53 J61 |
| Date: | 2014–06–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0599&r=mig |
| By: | McGuinness, Seamus; Byrne, Delma |
| Abstract: | This paper uses graduate survey data and econometric methods to estimate the incidence and wage/job satisfaction effects of over-education and overskilling among immigrants graduating from EU 15 based universities in 2005. Female immigrants with shorter durations of domicile were found to have a higher likelihood of overskilling. Newly arrived immigrants incurred wage penalties? which were exacerbated by additional penalties resulting from overskilling in the male labour market and overeducation in the female labour market. Established immigrants were found to enjoy wage premia, particularly within the male labour market, with no evidence of disproportionate wage impacts arising as a consequence of mismatch. Female immigrants were generally found to have a significantly lower probability of being job satisfied relative to native female graduates. |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:wpaper:wp484&r=mig |
| By: | Grant, Audra; Burger, Nicholas; Wodon, Quentin |
| Abstract: | This chapter is based on qualitative focus group and in-depth interview data collected among rural residents and urban migrants in the five focus countries for this study. The chapter documents the relationship between climate change and internal human mobility as seen by the population, as well as some of the other adaptation strategies used by households to cope with a deteriorating climate. Rural residents are clearly aware of climate change. They perceive a shift in climactic conditions that affects their livelihood due to deteriorating agricultural conditions. Among households affected by climate change, migration appears to be more of a strategy of last resort than of first resort, although there are exceptions. For those who migrate to urban areas, obtaining a job as well as a proper dwelling is hard and further hindered by corruption and competition for limited employment opportunities. The obligation to send remittances also puts pressure on migrants. Yet, despite difficulties and pressures, the perceived benefits of migration in terms of the independence and opportunities afforded by urban life remain substantial. |
| Keywords: | Climate change, Weather shocks, Migration, Adaptation, Middle East and North Africa |
| JEL: | R23 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:56936&r=mig |
| By: | Alexander, Gigi; Foley, Maggie |
| Abstract: | This empirical study investigates the impact on net state in-migration over the 2000-2003 period of a variety of economic and non-economic factors and thereby serves as a robustness test of previous studies. The empirical estimates indicate that the net state in-migration rate was an increasing function of median family income or expected median family income on the one hand and a decreasing function of the average cost of living. In addition, net state in-migration was an increasing function of the warmer temperatures, while being a decreasing function of the presence of hazardous waste sites. Finally, net state in-migration was an increasing function of fiscal surplus (measured as per capita state plus local government spending on public education minus per capita state plus local government property taxation) and a decreasing function of the presence of state individual income taxation. |
| Keywords: | net migration; state data; income; quality of life; fiscal surplus |
| JEL: | H71 H75 J61 Q00 R23 |
| Date: | 2014–06–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:56967&r=mig |
| By: | Kate Ambler; Diego Aycinena; Dean Yang |
| Abstract: | We implement a randomized experiment offering Salvadoran migrants matching funds for educational remittances, which are channeled directly to a beneficiary student in El Salvador chosen by the migrant. The matches lead to increased educational expenditures, higher private school attendance, and lower labor supply of youths in El Salvador households connected to migrant study participants. We find substantial “crowd-in” of educational investments: for each $1 received by beneficiaries, educational expenditures increase by $3.72. We find no shifting of expenditures away from other students, and no effect on remittances. |
| JEL: | C93 F22 F24 H24 I22 J15 O15 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20262&r=mig |
| By: | Adoho, Franck; Wodon, Quentin |
| Abstract: | Migration is one of several strategies used by households to respond to changes in climate and environmental conditions as well as extreme weather events. Yet while there is a burgeoning literature on climate change and migration and other adaptation strategies worldwide, the evidence available for the MENA region remains limited, in part because of a lack of survey and other data. This chapter is based on new data collected in 2011 in Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Syria, and Yemen in two climate affected areas per country. The chapter provides an analysis of the impact of changes in weather patterns and the environment (as perceived by households) on migration, both by members residing in the households (temporary migration) and former household members who have left (permanent migration). The results suggest that perceptions of negative changes in weather patterns and the environment are indeed associated with a higher likelihood of migrating temporarily or permanently. |
| Keywords: | Climate change, Migration, Middle East and North Africa |
| JEL: | R23 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:56935&r=mig |
| By: | Michael Clemens, Colum Graham, and Stephen Howes |
| Abstract: | Developing countries invest in training skilled workers and can lose part of their investment if those workers emigrate. One response is for the destination countries to design ways to participate in financing skilled emigrants’ training before they migrate—linking skill creation and skill mobility. Such designs can learn from the experience of the Australian-aid-funded Australia-Pacific Technical College (APTC). The APTC is financing and conducting vocational training in five Pacific island developing countries for thousands of workers with the objective of providing them with opportunities to find employment at home and abroad—including in Australia. With thousands of graduates across the region the APTC has attained its goal of skill creation, but has not attained its goal of skill mobility. This paper establishes and explains this finding, and draws lessons for future initiatives that may seek to link skill creation with higher levels of skill mobility. |
| Keywords: | skill, education, labor, training, human capital, migration, brain drain, Australia, pacific, mobility |
| JEL: | F22 J24 O15 R23 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:wpaper:370&r=mig |
| By: | Cong Nguyen, Minh; Wodon, Quentin |
| Abstract: | Do extreme weather events such as droughts or floods lead to migration away from the areas affected by these events? This chapter aims to provide an answer to that question for Morocco using a new nationally representative household survey implemented in 2009-10. The data suggest that around one in four households have been affected by weather shocks in the five years preceding the survey implementation. Droughts and floods are not directly identified by households as major reasons for migration, but insufficient agricultural revenue and a lack of agricultural employment as well as better employment opportunities at the place of destination are mentioned as reasons to migrate, and these are affected by adverse weather shocks. Furthermore, in regression analysis, after controlling for a wide range of individual and household characteristics, the probability of both temporary and permanent migration increases if the household has been affected by an adverse weather shock or the consequences thereof. Thus, while adverse weather events may not be the main driver of migration, they do contribute to it. |
| Keywords: | Climate change, Weather shocks, Migration, Morocco |
| JEL: | R23 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:56938&r=mig |
| By: | Wodon, Quentin; Liverani, Andrea |
| Abstract: | Climate change and migration are major concerns in the MENA region, yet the empirical evidence on the impact of climate change and extreme weather events on migration remains limited. Information is broadly lacking on how households in vulnerable areas perceive changes in the climate, how they are affected by extreme weather events, whether they benefit from community and government programs to help them cope with and adapt to a changing climate, and how these conditions influence the decision of household members to migrate, either temporarily or permanently. This introductory chapter summarizes briefly the main results of the study which relied on existing data as well as focus groups and new household surveys collected in 2011 in Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Syria, and Yemen. The results suggest that households do perceive important changes in the climate, and that many households are being affected by extreme weather events resulting in losses in income, crops, and livestock. The coping and adaptation strategies used by households to deal with weather shocks are diverse, but also limited, with most households not able to recover from the negative impact of weather shocks. The ability of community level responses and government programs to support households is also very limited. Finally, while climate change is not today the main driver of migration flows, it does appear to contribute to these flows, and worsening climatic conditions are likely to exacerbate future migration flows. |
| Keywords: | Clinate Change, Migration, Middle East and North Africa |
| JEL: | R23 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:56926&r=mig |
| By: | Joseph, George; Wodon, Quentin; Blankespoor, Brian |
| Abstract: | There is evidence in the literature that migration and remittances tend to increase in response to climate shocks, so that both may function as coping mechanisms. It is not clear however whether remittances are likely to be higher in areas that suffer from poor climate in the absence of weather shocks. This chapter uses a nationally representative household survey for Yemen combined with weather data to measure remittance flows, both domestic and international, and assess the likelihood of households receiving remittances as well as the amounts received. We are interested in testing whether households living in less favorable areas in terms of climate (as measured through higher temperatures, lower rainfalls, more variability or seasonality in both, and larger differences in a given year between extreme temperatures) are more likely to benefit from remittances. The results suggest that this does not seem to be the case in Yemen. |
| Keywords: | Climate change, Remittances, Migration, Yemen |
| JEL: | R23 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:56939&r=mig |
| By: | Wodon, Quentin; Burger, Nicholas; Grant, Audra; Liverani, Andrea |
| Abstract: | Climate change is a major source of concern in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, and migration is often understood as one of several strategies used by households to respond to changes in climate and environmental conditions, including extreme weather events. Other coping and adaptation strategies include changing the household’s sources of livelihood, and selling assets or taking other emergency measures in cases of losses due to extreme weather events. Yet while there is a burgeoning literature on climate change and migration and other adaptation strategies worldwide, the evidence available for the MENA region remains limited, in part because of a lack of survey and other data. This chapter is based in large part on new data collected in 2011 in Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Syria, and Yemen. Household surveys were implemented in two climate affected areas in each country. In addition, qualitative focus groups were also implemented in both urban and rural areas. Finally, complementary work was completed using existing data sources for Morocco and Yemen. The chapter provides a summary of some of the main findings from these various sources of data, focusing on household perceptions about climate change and extreme weather events, migration, other household coping and adaptation strategies, and government and community responses. Overall, households do perceive important change in the climate, and many have been affected by extreme weather events with resulting losses in income, crops, livestock, or fish catchment. The coping and adaptation strategies used by households to deal with shocks are diverse but limited, as are the community and government programs which could help households better cope with and adapt to climate change. In terms of migration, in the areas affected by climate change and weather shocks, the analysis suggests that climate factors may account for between one tenth and one fifth of the overall level of migration observed today, but this is likely to increase as climatic conditions continue to deteriorate. While migrants appreciate the opportunities that migration offer, their living conditions and ability to be well integrated in their areas of destination is far from being guaranteed. |
| Keywords: | Climate change, Migration, Adaptation, Middle East and North Africa |
| JEL: | R23 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:56927&r=mig |
| By: | Burger, Nicholas; Grant, Audra; Kups, Sarah; Rana, Yashodhara; Wodon, Quentin |
| Abstract: | This study aims to be relevant for the MENA region as a whole, but it focuses on five countries - Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Syria, and Yemen, and in many (but not all) cases on specific geographic areas within each of the five countries. After a brief introduction, this chapter outlines the reasons that led to the choice of the five focus countries. Next, to provide contextual background for the study, the chapter provides an introductory discussion of climate and migration patterns in each of the five countries, and of the policy and institutional context in which discussions on climate change take place. |
| Keywords: | Climate change, Migration, Adaptation, Middle East and North Africa |
| JEL: | R23 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:56928&r=mig |
| By: | Joseph, George; Wodon, Quentin |
| Abstract: | This chapter uses matching techniques and a recent nationally representative household survey for Yemen combined with weather data to measure the impact of remittances, both domestic and international, on poverty and human development outcomes (school enrolment, immunization, and malnutrition). The estimations are carried both nationally and in areas with favorable and unfavorable climate. Remittances are found to have a statistically significant impact on many of the indicators, and this is especially the case for international remittances which tend to provide more resources to their beneficiaries. The impact of remittances on measures of poverty and malnutrition is also found to be stronger in districts that are affected by unfavorable climate (as measured through higher temperatures or lower levels of rainfall), while the impact of remittances on school enrollment is found to be stronger in areas with better climate. The results are consistent with households in the least favorable areas using their remittances to meet basic needs first, while households in better areas can use remittances flows for education investments. |
| Keywords: | Climate change, Migration, Remittances, Human Development, Poverty, Yemen |
| JEL: | R23 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:56517&r=mig |
| By: | Burger, Nicholas; Ghosh-Dastidar, Bonnie; Grant, Audra; Joseph, George; Ruder, Teague; Tchakeva, Olesya; Wodon, Quentin |
| Abstract: | A large part of this study is based on data collected in 2011 in five focus countries of the MENA region. In addition, other existing data sources were used as well, as documented in the various chapters that follow, but this need not be discussed in this chapter. This chapter documents the process followed and some of the choices made for new data collection, both quantitative and qualitative, for the study on climate change and migration in the MENA region. After a brief introduction, we explain the nature of the household survey questionnaire, what it enables us to document, as well as some of its limits. Next, we explain how the household survey sites were selected and how the samples were constructed in each of the five focus countries. We also provide a few comments on the challenges encountered during survey implementation. The chapter finally explains the process used for the focus group discussions and in-depth interview, as well as for the interviews with key informants conducted in each country. |
| Keywords: | Climate change, Migration, Adaptation, Middle East and North Africa |
| JEL: | R23 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:56929&r=mig |
| By: | Junaid Ahmed (Georg-August-University Göttingen); Mazhar Mughal (Pau Business School) |
| Abstract: | This study analyzes the differential consumption patterns of foreign and domestic remittances to migrant households in Pakistan using Working-Leser framework and propensity score matching. Findings point to differing consumption behaviour across foreign and domestic recipients. Foreign remittances are considered as fungible and spent in the same way as other sources of income. In contrast, domestic remittances are considered a less permanent source of income and are spent more on improving the households’ human capital. |
| Keywords: | Expenditure; consumption patterns; foreign remittances; domestic remittances; Pakistan |
| JEL: | O12 O15 O53 |
| Date: | 2014–06–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:got:gotcrc:160&r=mig |