Search

This paper considers how international migration of the head of household affects the allocation of resources toward boys relative to girls within households remaining in the home country. I address the endogeneity of migration with a differences-in-differences style regression model that compares those households in which migrants have already returned home with those in which migrants are still away. The evidence suggests that while the head of household is away a greater fraction of resources are spent on girls relative to boys, but upon his return, this pattern is reversed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many migrations are temporary-a fact that has often been ignored in the economic literature on migration. Such omission may be serious in that expected migration temporariness can impart a distinct dynamic element to immigrants' economic behavior, generating possible consequences for nonmigrants in both home and host countries. In this paper, we provide a thorough examination of the various aspects of temporary migrations that matter for the analysis of economic phenomena. We demonstrate the extent of temporary migrations in population movements. We show how temporariness can affect the various economic choices and how better data have improved both the measurement of nonpermanent migrations and the analyses of various aspects of migrant behavior. We propose a general theoretical framework for modeling temporary migration decisions, based on which we outline the various motives for temporariness while simultaneously reviewing related literature and available data sources. We discuss the possible consequences of migration temporariness for nonmigrants in both home and host countries. (JEL F22, F24, J11, J61, K37, O15) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

My objective in this paper is to lay the groundwork for a new network-based theory of economic development. The first step is to establish that community-based networks are active throughout the developing world. Plenty of anecdotal and descriptive evidence supports this claim. However, showing that these networks improve the economic outcomes of their members is more of a challenge. Over the course of the paper, I will present multiple strategies that have been employed to directly or indirectly identify network effects. The second step is to look beyond a static role for community networks, one of overcoming market failures and improving the outcomes of their members in the short-run, to examine how these informal institutions can support group mobility. A voluminous literature documents the involvement of communities in internal and international migration, both historically and in the contemporary economy. As with the static analysis, the challenge here is to show statistically that community networks directly support the movement of groups of individuals. I will show how predictions from the theory can be used to infer a link between networks and migration in very different contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews four decades of economics research on the brain drain, with a focus on recent contributions and on development issues. We first assess the magnitude, intensity, and determinants of the brain drain, showing that brain drain (or high-skill) migration is becoming a dominant pattern of international migration and a major aspect of globalization. We then use a stylized growth model to analyze the various channels through which a brain drain affects the sending countries and review the evidence on these channels. The recent empirical literature shows that high-skill emigration need not deplete a country's human capital stock and can generate positive network externalities. Three case studies are also considered: the African medical brain drain, the exodus of European scientists to the United States, and the role of the Indian diaspora in the development of India's information technology sector. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of the analysis for education, immigration, and international taxation policies in a global context. (JEL F02, F22, J24, J61, O15) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes factors affecting the landscape of immigration in the U.S. including internal enforcement, employment, and incidence of crime based on data from the Survey of Migration to the Northern Border between 2002 to 2014. Topics discussed include impact of immigration enforcement on the rate and composition of Mexican migration, importance of work experience in the immigrant selection process, and the impact of employment on the incidence of crime.

The article presents comparative research on immigrant and native households in the United States and their voluntary contributions of time and money toward the provision of public goods, their private transfers toward extended family, and the assistance they receive from nongovernmental sources. Using data from the 2001 Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and the 2003 Current Population Survey, the study finds that U.S. immigrant households do not "free ride" significantly more than native households, and are less likely to receive nongovernmental assistance. Implications for the long-term impact of immigration are also discussed.

This paper summarizes the actively evolving ideas, findings, and difficulties in the economics of labor migration. This is done mainly by illustrating selected theoretical and empirical developments which are believed to be on the frontier of research in this area. The paper also identifies several new research topics that comprise part of the next research frontier. It also points out that much of the more interesting recent research is associated with migration within and from developing economies. This situation might be partly explained by the fact that the impact of wage differentials on migration tends to be offset by unemployment compensation programs and other fiscal policies in the developed economies. Scene of the less developed countries thus constitutes a good migration research laboratory for studying migration in general. Recent empirical research on the economics of labor migration has benefited a great deal more from the development of new econometric techniques than from new theoretical ideas. The techniques that have substantially improved ability to use micro data sets in the estimation of relatively standard models of labor migration include techniques for the analysis of qualitative dependent variables, techniques that correct for sample selection bias, and techniques for the analysis of longitudinal and pseudo-longitudinal data.

The Syrian Conflict generated forced immigration from northern Syria to southeastern Turkey. Arrival of refugees resembles a natural experiment, which offers good opportunities to study the economic impact of immigration. I study three main outcomes: labor markets, consumer prices, and housing rents. I document moderate employment losses among native informal workers, which suggests that they are partly substituted by refugees. Prices of the items produced in informal labor intensive sectors declined due to labor cost advantages generated by refugee inflows. Finally, refugee inflows increased the rents of higher quality housing units, while there is no effect on lower quality units. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is the greatest single class of distortions in the global economy? One contender for this title is the tightly binding constraints on emigration from poor countries. Vast numbers of people in low-income countries want to emigrate from those countries but cannot. How large are the economic losses caused by barriers to emigration? Research on this question has been distinguished by its rarity and obscurity, but the few estimates we have should make economists' jaws hit their desks. The gains to eliminating migration barriers amount to large fractions of world GDP-one or two orders of magnitude larger than the gains from dropping all remaining restrictions on international flows of goods and capital. When it comes to policies that restrict emigration, there appear to be trillion-dollar bills on the sidewalk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an overview of economic research on the relationship between immigration and wage inequality in major U.S. cities. Variables discussed include native and immigrant populations of workers, categorized by education level (high school dropouts, high school graduates, and college graduates), which groups qualify as substitutes for one another, and the elasticity of substitution. The relative value of cross-city and aggregate time series evidence is also evaluated. Immigration is found to have a relatively small impact on native wages, but a wide disparity of education and thus wages is found within immigrant populations.

This paper revisits the authors' earlier analysis of the fiscal impact of immigration (Lee and Miller, 1997), henceforth LM97, in light of higher projected rates of productivity growth, an unexpected increase in the effective federal income tax rate in recent years, and some revisions of the demographic projections. The authors emphasize implications for Social Security, and address points raised by the recent literature (Holger Bonin et al., 1998; George Borjas, 1999; Alan Auerbach and Philip Oreopolis, 2000; Kjetil Storesletten, 2000). They state the most important conclusion is that the overall fiscal consequences of altering the volume of immigration would be quite small and should not be a major consideration for policy. Their results also suggest that a policy of admitting only high-education immigrants of young working ages could be highly fiscally beneficial, consistent with the findings of Bonin et al. (1998), Auerbach and Oreopolis (2000), and Storesletten (2000). However, such a policy would most likely conflict with other goals of immigration policy.

Discusses the impact of immigrants on host country wages, employment and growth. Potential adverse effect on labor market outcomes of native-born workers; Growth in per capita income; Size of international migration flows; Native factors of production.

This paper examines the impact of mass immigration utilizing the analytical framework of trade theory. As such, its emphasis is on general equilibrium effects and on the constraints imposed by the openness of the economy on such effects. The analysis concentrates on the distributional impact of immigration. This a matter which has generated much controversy, as some groups in the economy such as labors have opposed immigration on the basis they are hurt by immigrants, while others such as producers facing intense import competition from developing countries have lobbied for increased immigration on the basis they may not subsist without them. Some crucial aspects regarding the distributional impact of unskilled labor immigration have been examined. The weight of the analysis is that immigration does tend to turn the functional distribution of income against labor and in favor of nonlabor factors. This result, is not exactly obvious, and depends on the importance of output composition effects, international capital movements, and changes in relative prices, among other things.

We study how goods- and labor-market frictions affect aggregate labor productivity in China. Combining unique data with a general equilibrium model of internal and international trade, and migration across regions and sectors, we quantify the magnitude and consequences of trade and migration costs. The costs were high in 2000, but declined afterward. The decline accounts for 36 percent of the aggregate labor productivity growth between 2000 and 2005. Reductions in internal trade and migration costs are more important than reductions in external trade costs. Despite the decline, migration costs are still high and potential gains from further reform are large. (JEL E24, F16, J24, P23, P25, R12, R23) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Few if any issues in public policy are as muddled and contentious as international migration. There is no international regime that establishes standards and principles for national migration policies other than in the case of refugees (migrants escaping persecution). My aim here is to describe some economic and ethical principles that may underpin an international migration regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We provide an explanation for the large spatial wage disparities and low male migration in India based on the trade-off between consumption smoothing, provided by caste-based rural insurance networks, and the income gains from migration. Our theory generates two key empirically verified predictions: (i) males in relatively wealthy households within a caste who benefit less from the redistributive (surplus-maximizing) network will be more likely to migrate, and (ii) males in households facing greater rural income risk (who benefit more from the insurance network) migrate less. Structural estimates show that small improvements in formal insurance decrease the spatial misallocation of labor by substantially increasing migration. (JEL G22, J31, J61, O15, O18, R23, Z13) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the economic benefits derived by the United States from immigration. Socioeconomic characteristics of immigrants and natives; Immigration surplus; External returns in aggregate economy; Immigrant skills.

The article examines the economic impact of migration on the U.S. and other host countries. Others view that immigration affects the employment opportunities of native-born workers, skill endowment of the labor force and the expenditures in social insurance programs. However, there is little evidence to suggest that immigrants have an adverse impact on native employment opportunities. Although immigrants generally arrived with an economic disadvantage, their economic opportunities improve over time. Census shows that immigrants in the U.S. for several decades have higher wages than native workers. Immigration policy is now significant in the debate over social policy in the U.S. and other host countries.