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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Thomas K. Bauer (RWI, Ruhr-University Bochum and IZA); Matthias Giesecke (RWI and IZA); Laura M. Janisch (RWI, RGSEcon and Ruhr-University Bochum) |
| Abstract: | We examine the long-run effects of forced migration from Eastern Europe into post-war Germany. Existing evidence suggests that displaced individuals are worse off economically, facing a considerably lower income and a higher unemployment risk than comparable natives even twenty years after being expelled. We extend this literature by investigating the relative performance of forced migrants across the entire life cycle. Using social security records that document the exact date of death and a proxy for pre-retirement lifetime earnings, we estimate a signifi cantly and considerably higher mortality risk among forced migrants compared to native West-Germans. The adverse displacement effect persists throughout the earnings distribution except for the top quintile. Although forced migrants are generally worse off regarding mortality outcomes, those with successful labor market histories seem to overcome the long-lasting negative consequences of flight and expulsion. |
| Keywords: | Forced Migration, Di erential Mortality, Lifetime Earnings, Economic History |
| JEL: | I12 J61 O15 R23 |
| Date: | 2017–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:1709&r=mig |
| By: | Martin D. Munk; Till Nikolka; Panu Poutvaara |
| Abstract: | Gender differences in labor force participation are exceptionally small in Nordic countries. We investigate how couples emigrating from Denmark self-select and sort into different destinations and whether couples pursue the dual-earner model, in which both partners work, when abroad. Female labor force participation is slightly lower among couples that later emigrate, and drops considerably after migration outside the Nordic countries. Pre-migration differences between couples subsequently migrating to different destinations are small. Our survey reveals that couple migration is usually driven by the male’s job opportunities. The results suggest that increasing international migration may reduce women’s career investments. |
| Keywords: | household production, female labor force participation, child care, international migration, family migration |
| JEL: | D13 J12 J13 J16 F22 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_6377&r=mig |
| By: | Christoph Albert |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the labor market impact of both documented and undocumented immigration in a model featuring search frictions and non-random hiring that generates predictions consistent with novel patterns documented in data. Due to their lower earnings, a rise in the share of immigrant workers in the economy leads to the creation of additional jobs, but also more job competition for natives. As undocumented immigrants earn the lowest wages of all workers, their job creation effect is large, whereas it is small and potentially negative for documented immigrants. Model simulations show that the job creation effect of undocumented immigration dominates the competition effect, leading to gains in terms of both employment and wages for natives, which does not hold in case of documented immigration. Stricter immigration enforcement in form of a higher deportation risk for undocumented immigrants mutes job creation and raises the unemployment rate of all workers, having an even larger detrimental effect if it targets employed immigrants because this leads to a risk premium in their wages. I present empirical evidence that gives support to the qualitative predictions of the model. |
| Keywords: | wage gap, migrant workers, hiring, employment |
| JEL: | J31 J61 J63 J64 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_6575&r=mig |
| By: | Alexander Patt; Jens Ruhose; Simon Wiederhold; Miguel Flores |
| Abstract: | We present the first evidence that international emigrant selection on education and earnings materializes through occupational skills. Combining novel data from a representative Mexican task survey with rich individual-level worker data, we find that Mexican migrants to the United States have higher manual skills and lower cognitive skills than non-migrants. Conditional on occupational skills, education and earnings no longer predict migration decisions. Differential labor-market returns to occupational skills explain the observed selection pattern and significantly outperform previously used returns-to-skills measures in predicting migration. Results are persistent over time and hold within narrowly defined regional, sectoral, and occupational labor markets. |
| JEL: | F22 O15 J61 J24 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_6527&r=mig |
| By: | Robert Lehmann; Wolfgang Nagl |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the main determinants of the regional representation of foreign employees in Germany. Since migration determinants are not necessarily the same for workers of different nationalities, we explain spatial patterns not only for total foreign employment but also for the 35 most important migration countries to Germany. Based on a total census for all 402 districts in Germany, we find a large heterogeneity in migration determinants between nationalities. We identify three groups of countries for which labor market and economic conditions, amenities or cultural factors are more important. Geographical distance plays a major role in location decisions, a finding that is especially pronounced for workers from countries neighboring Germany. |
| Keywords: | foreign employment, migration determinants, distance, spatial models |
| JEL: | F22 J21 J61 O15 R12 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_6356&r=mig |
| By: | Ager, Philipp (Department of Business and Economics); Hansen, Casper Worm (Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | The introduction of immigration quotas in the 1920s fundamentally changed U.S. immigration policy. We exploit this policy change to estimate the economic consequences of immigration restrictions for the U.S. economy. The implementation of the quota system led to a long-lasting relative decline in population growth in areas with larger pre-existing immigrant communities of affected nationalities. This effect was largely driven by the policy-restricted supply of immigrants from quota-affected nationalities and lower fertility of first- and second-generation immigrant women. In the more affected areas labor productivity growth in manufacturing declined substantially and native workers were pushed into lower-wage occupations. While native white workers faced sizable earnings losses, black workers benefited from the quota system and improved their relative economic status within the more affected areas. |
| Keywords: | Immigration restrictions; productivity growth; local labor markets; racial wage gap |
| JEL: | J31 J61 N31 O15 |
| Date: | 2017–10–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sdueko:2017_011&r=mig |
| By: | Amelie F. Constant |
| Abstract: | The health status of people is a precious commodity and central to economic, socio-political, and environmental dimensions of any country. Yet it is often the missing statistic in all general statistics, demographics, and presentations about the portrait of immigrants and natives. In this paper we are concerned with international migration and health outcomes in the host countries. Through a general literature review and examination of specific immigration countries, we provide insights into the Healthy Immigrant Paradox and the health assimilation of immigrants as we also elucidate selection and measurement challenges. While health is part of human capital, health assimilation is the mirror image of earnings assimilation. Namely, immigrants arrive with better health compared to natives and their health deteriorates with longer residence in the host country, converging to the health of natives or becoming even worse. A deeper understanding of immigrant health trajectories, and disparities with natives and other immigrants is of great value to societies and policymakers, who can design appropriate policy frameworks that address public health challenges, and prevent the health deterioration of immigrants. |
| Keywords: | health status, healthy immigrant paradox, international migration, assimilation, age-cohort-period effects, selection, aging |
| JEL: | I00 I10 I12 I14 I18 J00 F22 J11 J14 J15 J24 J61 O15 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_6692&r=mig |
| By: | Zukowska-Gagelmann, Katarzyna |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effects of the European Union (EU) regional policy transfers on internal migration across regions in Poland for the period 2004-2014. Based on a gravity model of migration, it tests empirically using the Poisson Pseudo-Maximum Likelihood (PPML) estimator whether EU transfers affect the level and the pattern of bilateral migration flows. For the first eleven years of the EU membership, the study finds no evidence of EU funding discouraging residents’ mobility. On the contrary, residents of regions with higher EU transfers attracted are relatively more likely to leave. This effect is especially significant in poorer regions. In addition, EU transfers help regions attract more migrants. Both the “push” and the “pull” effect of the EU transfers on migration intensified over time. Hence, EU regional funding did not hamper, but rather fostered internal migration in Poland leading to a higher regional concentration of population and prosperity. This, however, works against the objective of the EU regional policy, which is to promote economic and social convergence across regions. |
| Keywords: | EU regional policy,EU structural funds,internal migration,migration determinants,Poland,panel data,gravity model,PPML |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:esprep:170576&r=mig |
| By: | Nusrate Aziz; Arusha Cooray; Wing Leong Teo |
| Abstract: | Using annual data over 1966-2014 from the Citizenship and Immigration statistics archives of Canada, we investigate how the funds brought into Canada by immigrants, affects the real effective exchange rate (REER) of Canada. We employ the ARDL bounds testing (Pesaran, Shin and Smith, 1999) and Dynamic OLS (Stock and Watson, 1993) approaches to cointegration. Both estimation methods indicate a long run relation between immigrants’ funds and exchange rate with immigrants’ funds leading to a significant appreciation of the exchange rate in Canada. These results are robust to different estimation methods and an alternative proxy measure for the funds brought into Canada by immigrants. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, immigrants’ money, exchange rate, Canada |
| JEL: | F31 F41 |
| Date: | 2017–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:camaaa:2017-64&r=mig |
| By: | Badi H. Baltagi (Center for Policy Research, Maxwell School, Syracuse University, 426 Eggers Hall, Syracuse, NY 13244); YingDeng (University of International Business and Economics); Xiangjun Ma (University of International Business and Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the fact that 37 percent of the internal migrants in China do not sign a labor contract with their employers, as revealed in a nationwide survey. These contract-free jobs pay lower hourly wages, require longer weekly work hours, and provide less insurance or on-the-job training than regular jobs with contracts. We find that the co-villager networks play an important role in a migrant’s decision on whether to accept such insecure and irregular jobs. By employing a comprehensive nationwide survey in 2011 in the spatial autoregressive logit model, we show that the common behavior of not signing contracts in the co-villager network increases the probability that a migrant accepts a contract-free job. We provide three possible explanations on how networks influence migrants’ contract decisions: job referral mechanism, limited information on contract benefits, and the "mini labor union" formed among co-villagers, which substitutes for a formal contract. In the sub-sample analysis, we also find that the effects are larger for migrants whose jobs were introduced by their covillagers, male migrants, migrants with rural Hukou, short-term migrants, and less educated migrants. The heterogeneous effects for migrants of different employer types, industries, and home provinces provide policy implications. |
| Keywords: | Contract, Co-Villager Network, Spatial Autoregressive Logit Model, Internal Migrants |
| JEL: | O15 R12 J14 |
| Date: | 2017–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:max:cprwps:207&r=mig |
| By: | Konan, Yao Silvère |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the determinants of international remittances received during the post electoral crisis in Côte d'Ivoire, using data collected 5 months after the end of the conflict. The author finds that the crisis has been a means of mobilizing social capital and demonstrating altruistic and insurance behaviors beyond the bounds of kinship. Transfers are mainly sent for consumption purpose, but amounts transferred for small investments and human capital are higher. Moreover, the propensity to transfer higher amounts decreases when emigration occurred after the November 2004 violent events. Altruism resists to time. |
| Keywords: | remittances,Côte d'Ivoire,post electoral conflict,Sub-Saharan Africa,migration |
| JEL: | F22 F24 O15 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwedp:201786&r=mig |