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Social Science > Emigration and Immigration

You are looking at 1 - 10 of 14 items for :

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Cover IMF Working Papers
Stranded! How Rising Inequality Suppressed US Migration and Hurt Those Left Behind
Mr. Tamim Bayoumi
and
Jelle Barkema
Using bilateral data on migration across US metro areas, we find strong evidence that increasing house price and income inequality has reduced long distance migration, the type most linked to jobs. For those migrating uphill, from a less to a more prosperous location, lower mobility is driven by increasing house price inequlity, as the disincentives from higher house prices dominate the incentives from higher earnings. By contrast, increasing income inequality drives the fall in downhill migration as the disincentives from lower earnings dominate the incentives from lower house prices. The model underlines the plight of those trapped in decaying metro areas—those “left behind”.
Keywords:
WP; house price; Migration; Inequality; Economic; Opportunity; long-distance migration; income divergence; B. migration result; migration flow; income differential; life-cycle migration pattern; migration data; destination increase migration; house price differential; Housing prices; Personal income; Income inequality; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Does an Inclusive Citizenship Law Promote Economic Development?
Patrick A. Imam
and
Mr. Kangni R Kpodar
This paper analyzes the impact of citizenship laws on economic development. We first document the evolution of citizenship laws around the world, highlighting the main features of jus soli, jus sanguinis as well as mixed regimes, and shedding light on the channels through which they could have differentiated impact on economic development. We then compile a data set of citizenship laws around the world. Using cross-country regressions, panel-data techniques, as well as the synthetic control method and subjecting the results to a battery of tests, we find robust evidence that jus soli laws—being more inclusive—lead to higher income levels than alternative citizenship rules in developing countries, though to a less extent in countries with stronger institutional environment.
Keywords:
WP; citizenship law; economic development; dummy variable; law country; country authorities; naturalization law; Citizenship laws; legal origin; Western Hemisphere country; regime country; government activity; country of immigrant; common law country; civil law; country's citizenship; sub-Saharan country; civil law country; Personal income; Migration; Legal support in revenue administration; Sub-Saharan Africa; Western Hemisphere; Europe
Cover IMF Working Papers
How Do Migration and Remittances Affect Inequality? A Case Study of Mexico
Zsoka Koczan
and
Franz Loyola
The poverty-reducing effects of remittances have been well-documented, however, their effects on inequality are less clear. This paper examines the impact of remittances on inequality in Mexico using household-level information on the receiving side. It hopes to speak to their insurance role by examining how remittances are affected by domestic and external crises: the 1994 Mexican Peso crisis and the Global Financial Crisis. We find that remittances lower inequality, and that they become more pro-poor over time as migration opportunities become more widespread. This also strengthens their insurance effects, mitigating some of the negative impact of shocks on the poorest.
Keywords:
WP; center; Gini coefficient; remittance; remittance receipt; No. of elderly; Migration; remittances; inequality; migration opportunity; income distribution migrant; remittances relative; remittance-receiving household; No. of child; determinants of remittance; decile point; migration flow; Income; Income distribution; Income inequality; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Denmark: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
This Selected Issues paper analyzes household balance sheet structure in Denmark and sensitivity to rising rates. Households in Denmark have gotten considerably wealthier in recent decades. High household assets, in particular in the mandatory pension system and housing, provide stability by funding future consumption and protecting against shocks. The high, but mostly illiquid, assets have a counterpart, however, in the high household debt, as households often need to borrow to consume or buy property. The resulting combination of large assets and liabilities on household balance sheets make the Danish economy sensitive to interest-rate changes. Sudden increases in interest rates can create macroeconomic instability via their impact on the debt service of households and knock-on effects on consumption.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; migrant; firm; employment probability; integration outcome; demand condition; sales growth; migrants to Denmark; Migration; Consumption; Disposable income; Income; Europe; Global; Northern Europe
Cover Finance & Development
Finance and Development, December 2016
International Working Group on External Debt Statistics
This issue of Finance & Development examines the good and bad sides of globalization. Sebastian Mallaby notes that after decades of increasing cross-border movements of capital, goods, and people, only migration continues apace. Capital flows have collapsed, and trade has stagnated. However, rather than a sign of retreat, trade and finance may be resetting to a more sustainable level consistent with continued globalization. IMF Chief Economist Maurice Obstfeld takes a closer look at trade. Ismaila Dieng profiles Leonard Wantchekon, a former activist who plans to train the next generation of African economists. Wantchekon, now a professor at Princeton University, is one of the few African economists teaching at a top US university. His research, which has received considerable attention from development economists, focuses on the political and historical roots of economic development in Africa.
Keywords:
FD; F&D; income; trade; gain; economy
Cover Spillover Notes
Impact of Migration on Income Levels in Advanced Economies
Ms. Florence Jaumotte
,
Ksenia Koloskova
, and
Ms. Sweta Chaman Saxena

The recent refugee surge has brought attention to the macro-critical policy issue of migration, including speculations that migration can be an unfavorable phenomenon for the receiving economies. A careful examination of the impact of migration on host economies is thus critical. Focusing on the economic impact, most of the academic discussion has centered on the effect of migration on labor markets and public finances. Much less is known about the long-term impact of immigration on the GDP per capita (or the standard of living) of host economies. This note makes three contributions to estimating this impact: it uses a restricted sample of advanced economies rather than a mixed sample of higher- and lower-income host countries, it examines whether the GDP per capita impact varies for different skill levels of migrants, and it goes beyond the aggregate impact of migration on GDP per capita to examine how broadly gains in this regard are shared across the population. In particular, it examines whether migration impacts the income levels of those both at the top and at the bottom of the earnings distribution, or whether gains are instead concentrated in a small group of high earners. It finds that immigration significantly increases GDP per capita in advanced economies, that both high- and lower-skilled migrants can raise labor productivity, and that an increase in the migrant share benefits the average income per capita of both the bottom 90 percent and the top 10 percent of earners, suggesting the gains from immigration are broadly shared.

Keywords:
SN; migrant; migration share; fcd7bf; gravity-predicted migration; migration cost; labor market; real GDP; least squares; migration effect; Migration; Aging; Personal income; Labor productivity; Europe
Cover Finance & Development
Finance & Development, March 2015
International Monetary Fund. External Relations Dept.
This chapter discusses the impact of global recession on the working population and looks at the future of work in the global economy from a variety of angles. IMF economist Prakash Loungani leads off with an overview of the global jobs landscape and examines the reasons behind the slow recovery of jobs in the wake of the global financial crisis. The chapter also highlights an argument for a jobs- and wage-led global recovery, while IMF researchers probe the relationship between declining trade union membership and inequality.
Keywords:
FD; F&D; worker; firm; IMF-World Bank; job growth; income; household enterprise employment; jobs package; crisis level; Unemployment; Wages; Income inequality; Personal income; Global; Europe; Sub-Saharan Africa; Africa; Caribbean
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Norway: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
This Selected Issues paper examines migration patterns in Norway and their implications for estimates of potential output. It applies a new methodology proposed by Borio and others (2013) to estimate potential output by drawing on information about immigration and oil price movements. The paper also provides an overview of the recent trend in immigration in Norway and discusses various estimates of potential output using standard approaches. The results indicate that immigration plays a small but statistically significant role in the estimation of potential output for Norway. The data show that immigration inflows into Norway vary across source countries. The largest share of immigrants is from Poland, accounting for 15 percent of the total in 2012. Immigration patterns in Norway contain both cyclical and structural elements, but the latter seems dominant at least for now. Empirical results also suggest that immigration plays some role in determining potential output, however, its impact is quite small, consistent with the view that the recent immigration patterns are structural.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; enterprise; HP filter; output gap estimate; mainland GDP output gap; autoregressive output gap term; telecom company; Productivity; Migration; Potential output; Personal income; Corporate income tax; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Economic Transformation, Population Growth, and the Long-Run World Income Distribution
Mr. Marcos d Chamon
and
Mr. Michael R Kremer
This paper considers the long-run evolution of the world economy in a model where countries' opportunities to develop depend on their trade with advanced economies. As developing countries become advanced, they further improve trade opportunities for the remaining developing countries. Whether or not the world economy converges to widespread prosperity depends on the population growth differential between developing and advanced economies, the rate at which countries develop, and potentially on initial conditions. A calibration using historical data suggests that the long-run prospects for lagging developing regions, such as Africa, likely hinge on the sufficiently rapid development of China and India.
Keywords:
WP; small country; Population; growth; economic development; international trade; export opportunity; developing country labor; transaction cost; growth response; advanced country; growth determinant; Population growth; Migration; Personal income; Demographic change; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Regional Convergence and the Role of Federal Transfers in Canada
Mr. Phillip L Swagel
,
Mr. Steven V Dunaway
, and
Mr. Martin D Kaufman
Differences in per capita output across Canadian provinces have narrowed less than disparities in per capita income in past decades. Using a panel regression framework, this paper studies the differential impact of federal transfer programs on output convergence. The evidence suggests that while the Employment Insurance (EI) system seems to have had a significant negative effect on output convergence?by discouraging migration within Canada?the Equalization transfers may have helped spur convergence. The EI system, despite reforms introduced in the 1990s, still appears to contain features that deter labor mobility.
Keywords:
WP; employment insurance; EI transfer; employment insurance system; equation; Canada; regional convergence; federal transfers; migration; EI generosity; EI benefit; migration equation; Disposable income; Public expenditure review; Employment; Unemployment