|
on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Gambaro, Ludovica (London School of Economics); Huebener, Mathias (Bundesinstitut für Bevölkerungsforschung (BiB)); Schmitz, Sophia (Federal Institute for Population Research); Spieß, C. Katharina (Bundesinstitut für Bevölkerungsforschung (BiB)) |
| Abstract: | In armed conflicts, it is common for women, children, and the elderly to flee, leaving the men behind. While refugee women face particular challenges in caring for children in host countries, there is only limited evidence on the impact of childcare services on their integration. This paper examines the role of childcare services in the integration, employment, and well-being of refugee mothers. We focus on the displacement caused by the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Our analysis is based on a unique, large, and representative panel data set of Ukrainian refugees in Germany. We find a strong correlation between childcare attendance and the participation of refugee mothers in language courses, labour market activity, and social interaction. To establish causality, we leverage exogenous regional differences in childcare availability and excess demand. Our results reveal significant positive effects of childcare services on the participation of refugee mothers in language and integration programs, as well as employment and their interactions with Germans. However, we find no effects on maternal well-being. Our findings emphasize the importance of providing childcare services to refugee mothers to facilitate their integration. |
| Keywords: | childcare services, refugees, forced migration, integration, employment, Ukraine |
| JEL: | I26 J13 J15 |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17181 |
| By: | Annalisa Tassi |
| Abstract: | I study the relationship between changes in community needs and the supply of voluntary work. I present basic theoretical considerations, which suggest that the relationship between voluntary work and an increase in community needs is ambiguous. Then, I test the relationship empirically by proxying community needs with the number of needy people, i.e., refugees, in a county, and by exploiting the quasi-experiment of refugees’ allocation within Germany. I find that doubling the number of refugees increases the probability of volunteering by about 2 percentage points. These estimates imply that 1.45 million people additionally volunteered during the refugee crisis, i.e., more than one person per refugee. |
| Keywords: | Voluntary Work; Community Needs; Refugee Crisis; Quasi-experiment |
| JEL: | D64 J22 H49 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bav:wpaper:238_annalisa_tassi.rdf |
| By: | Kit Baum (Boston College); Hans Lööf (Royal Institute of Technology); Andreas Stephan (Linnaeus University); Klaus Zimmermann (UNU-MERIT) |
| Abstract: | In this case study, we examine the wage earnings of fully employed previous refugee immigrants in Sweden. Using administrative employer–employee data from 1990 onward, about 100, 000 refugee immigrants who arrived between 1980 and 1996 and were granted asylum are compared with a matched sample of native-born workers using coarsened exact matching. Employing recentered influence function (RIF) quantile regressions to wage earnings for the period 2011–2015, the occupational-task-based Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition approach shows that refugees perform better than natives at the median wage, controlling for individual and firm characteristics. The RIF-quantile approach provides better insights for the analysis of these wage differentials than the standard regression model employed in earlier versions of the study. |
| Date: | 2024–08–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boc:usug24:10 |
| By: | Michiel Gerritse (Erasmus University Rotterdam); Zhiling Wang (Erasmus University Rotterdam); Frank van Oort (Erasmus University Rotterdam) |
| Abstract: | China’s Industrial Transfer Policy (ITP) is a novel place-based development policy of unprecedented scale. The policy targets a set of inland cities aiming to i) grow them in size and ii) restructure them into manufacturing hubs. These cities would eventually relieve pressure in China’s coastal manufacturing hubs. We use a detailed migrant survey to estimate the impact of ITP on targeted cities by matching cities on policy assignment propensities. The ITP status led to a rapid but short-lived growth of migrant inflows up to 60%, representing 2 to 7 million internal migrations. Migrants in manufacturing and from coastal origins show stronger migration and wage responses. However, high skilled migrants respond less elastically, and migrant employment in manufacturing is offset by the exit of native workers. Additionally, manufacturing industries in targeted cities show no development in terms of output, pollution or production strategies. The ITP expands the population of targeted cities, but the evidence for a restructuring of the cities is weak. |
| Keywords: | migration, urbanization, development, wage, place-based policy, China |
| JEL: | R58 H50 O20 P25 J38 |
| Date: | 2024–03–22 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20240020 |