An empirical analysis of international labour migration in the Philippines

This study empirically investigates the impact of economic, demographic, and political factors on the size of emigration from the Philippines. In 2007, overseas workers from the Philippines sent remittances in excess of US$14 billion annually to their families back home. Although these remittances are an important source of foreign exchange and play an important role in economic development, the determinants of emigration in the Philippines are not well established. A simple unrestricted error correction model of migration was specified and estimated using data spanning the period 1975–2005. Results indicate that the level of unemployment, adult literacy and population density are the key determinants of emigration in the Philippines. The result also indicates that government instability impacts negatively on emigration in the Philippines. The policy implications of the results are discussed.     

MIGRATION, GLOBALISATION AND THE SPIRIT OF PETER BAUER

Lord Bauer understood that the human freedom of movement plays a vital role in development. Today, internal and cross-border migration generates hard-currency remittances that raise living standards and capital investment in the country of origin, promotes greater trade and investment ties between destination and origin countries, and raises a country's stock of human and physical capital when migrants return with new skills and investment funds. Immigration can also stimulate political and social reform when migrants return or foreign-born immigrants arrive with new ideas and experiences. Relaxing the pervasive controls on the international movement of people remains a huge piece of unfinished business on the market-driven development agenda.     

Labor market outcomes,savings accumulation,and return migration

In this paper, I examine the determinants of return migration from Germany for immigrants from four different source countries, and test the savings accumulation conjecture that is used to rationalize return migration decisions using both cross-country and time variation in purchasing power parity. The empirical results confirm the savings accumulation conjecture. Therefore, return migration can be seen as part of optimal life-cycle location choices in this context. I also examine how labor market outcomes influence return decisions. A key finding here is that unlike previous studies, which find a positive impact of unemployment on return migration, I find that the direction of the impact of unemployment changes by the spell length.     

Interregional Migration and Thresholds: Evidence from Spain

We analyse the effects of labour market factors on interregional migration in Spain for the period 1988–2010. A basic theoretical framework is developed, suggesting that the effect of labour market variables on migration varies, depending on a certain threshold. The model implications are tested using a new approach based on the presence of endogenous thresholds. We show that Spanish interregional migration can be explained by labour market variables when the labour market conditions at the source region are unfavourable relative to those of the host region. We test the results for several migrant characteristics, such as citizenship, the age range, and return migration.

Migration inter-régionale et seuils - résultats de la recherche en Espagne     

Migration and remittances in island microstates: a comparative perspective on the South Pacific and the Caribbean

For several decades there has been extensive migration from the small island states of the South Pacific and the eastern Caribbean to metropolitan countries, resulting in absolute population decline in some states and new social, economic and political relationships between these island regions and distant worlds. Early research on the consequences for island development of return migration and remittances dwelt upon the unproductive nature of expenditures and the various problems return migration and remittances cause. Questioning this view, a new conceptualization of the influences of migration, circulation and remittances on recipient families, communities and societies in the island states of the South Pacific and the Caribbean is presented. Regional similarities and differences are recognized, yet commonalities of island microstates’ experiences emerge. Remittances are a very significant private transfer of capital and return migrants represent people endowed with human capital, capable of enriching the social and cultural capital stocks of their island communities. In both insular regions, the consolidation of transnational linkages emphasizes the significance of diaspora relations for migrant households at home and abroad and offers some prospects for sustainable development, beyond those offered solely by domestic economic opportunities. Depuis plusieurs décennies, une migration considérable s’est développée des petites îles états du Pacifique du sud et des Antilles de l’est vers les pays métropolitains. Le résultat est un déclin du nombre absolu de la population dans certains de ces états et de nouvelles relations sociales, économiques et politiques entre ces régions des îles et les mondes éloignés. Les premières recherches sur les conséquences pour le développement des îles de la migration de retour et des envois de fonds insistaient sur la nature improductive des dépenses et sur les différents problèmes causés par la migration de retour et les envois de fonds. Questionnant ce point de vue, nous présentons une nouvelle conception des influences de la migration, de la circulation et des envois de fonds sur les familles qui en bénéficient, sur les communautés et sur les sociétés des îles états du Pacifique du sud et des Antilles. Bien que les similarités et des différences régionales soient reconnues, des points communs dans les expériences des micro‐états émergent. Les envois de fonds sont un tranfert privé de capital très significatif et les émigrants qui reviennent sont dotés de capital humain, capables d’enrichir le domaine social et culturel de leurs communautés des îles. Dans les deux régions insulaires, la consolidation des liens transnationaux démontre la signification des relations de la diaspora pour les familles migratrices chez elles et à l’étranger et offre des possibilités de développement durable au‐delà de ceux offerts uniquement par les opportunités économiques intérieures.     

Family Arrangements and Children's Education Among Migrants: A Case Study of China

As China is experiencing an urban revolution with massive rural-to-urban migration, millions of children are profoundly affected by their parents’ migration and their decisions about family arrangements. With the discriminatory hukou system and harsh living conditions in cities, the dilemma migrant parents face is whether they should take their children with them to the city or leave them behind. This decision determines the household, school and community environments that children live in, which, in turn, shape their well-being. With a unique strategy of comparing ‘left-behind children’ to ‘migrant children’ and a gendered perspective, this article examines how different family arrangements among migrants and consequent housing conditions and gender dynamics affect children's educational well-being. Our findings demonstrate the complex impact of family arrangements on children, which is conditioned by wage income and the gender of the absent parent and the child. We find that children from less favorable socio-economic backgrounds benefit more from moving to cities. Children living with both parents and those living with their mother or grandparents tend to do better. While the effect of housing conditions is marginal, family arrangements have a gendered effect on children. Related policy recommendations are provided.     

Measuring the impact of the approach to migration in the quality of web service interfaces

There is a good consensus on the strategic value of service-oriented architecture (SOA) as a way of structuring systems, and a common trend is to migrate legacy applications that use outdated technologies and architectures to SOA. We study the effects in the resulting Web Service interfaces of applying two traditional migration approaches combined with common ways of building services, namely, direct migration with code-first and indirect migration with contract-first. The migrated system was a 35-year-old COBOL system of a government agency that serves several millions of users. In addition, we provide a deep explanation of the trade-offs involved in following either combinations. Results confirm that the ‘fast and cheap’ approach to move into SOA, which is commonplace in the industry, may deliver poor service interfaces, and interface quality is also subject to the tools supporting the migration process.     

Egyptian men working abroad: Labour supply responses by the women left behind

Female labour force participation has remained low in Egypt. This paper examines whether male international migration provides a leeway for women to enter the labour market and/or to increase their labour supply. In line with previous studies, we find a decrease in wage work particularly in urban areas. However, women living in rural areas and affected by migration are much more likely to be employed in non-wage activities (i.e. unpaid family work) and subsistence work compared to women in non-migrant households. Furthermore, we find evidence that this labour supply response is driven by the household's need to replace the migrant's labour rather than by a loosening of a financing constraint on family enterprises made possible by the flow of remittances.     

Wealth Accumulation and Factors Accounting for Success

We use detailed income, balance sheet, and cash flow statements constructed for households in a long monthly panel in an emerging market economy, and some recent contributions in economic theory, to document and better understand the factors underlying success in achieving upward mobility in the distribution of net worth. Wealth inequality is decreasing over time, and many households work their way out of poverty and lower wealth over the seven year period. The accounts establish that, mechanically, this is largely due to savings rather than incoming gifts and remittances. In turn, the growth of net worth can be decomposed household by household into the savings rate and how productively that savings is used, the return on assets (ROA). The latter plays the larger role. ROA is, in turn, positively correlated with higher education of household members, younger age of the head, and with a higher debt/asset ratio and lower initial wealth, so it seems from cross-sections that the financial system is imperfectly channeling resources to productive and poor households. Household fixed effects account for the larger part of ROA, and this success is largely persistent, undercutting the story that successful entrepreneurs are those that simply get lucky. Persistence does vary across households, and in at least one province with much change and increasing opportunities, ROA changes as households move over time to higher-return occupations. But for those households with high and persistent ROA, the savings rate is higher, consistent with some micro founded macro models with imperfect credit markets. Indeed, high ROA households save by investing in their own enterprises and adopt consistent financial strategies for smoothing fluctuations. More generally growth of wealth, savings levels and/or rates are correlated with TFP and the household fixed effects that are the larger part of ROA.     

Estimating and interpreting internal migration flows in Russia by accounting for network effects

The present article follows two objectives. First, to apply a recently developed spatial interaction model and discuss its power in explaining social developments. Second, to obtain information on internal migration's determinants in Russia by taking into account that its eastern and western regions differ in many respects. Two alternative panel specifications are considered, labelled “spatial interaction specification with exogenous spatial lags” and “gravity-type specification with network effects”. While both specifications are designed to capture the impacts of neighbouring regions in migration dynamics, they differ with respect to the implementation of fixed effects. It is argued that neighbourhood impacts manifest themselves either as spillover effects, which amplify a variable's impact, or competition effects, which attenuate them. The results show that variables indeed differ from each other in these respects, demonstrating how migration patterns are subject to events beyond the directly involved regions, and that these are furthermore influenced by the distances between regions. In addition, the results provide further evidence that migration determinants differ for Eastern and Western Russia.     

Linkages between income inequality,international remittances and economic growth in Pakistan

This paper explores the dynamic linkages between income inequality, international remittances and economic growth using time series data over the period of 1976–2006 in case of Pakistan. The cointegration analysis based on the bounds test confirms the existence of a long-run relationship between income inequality, international remittances and economic growth. Our results reveal that income inequality and international remittances enhance economic growth. The causality analysis based on innovative accounting approach shows bidirectional causal relationship between income inequality and economic growth and same is true for international remittances and income inequality. International remittances are cause of economic growth but not vice versa. Although we find support for Kuznets hypothesis but Pakistan is yet to benefit, in terms of reducing the gaps of income inequality, from the international flow of remittances and economic growth. The paper argues that, from a policy perspective, there is an urgent need for policy makers in Pakistan to reduce the widening gap of income inequality by focusing on income redistribution policies and to go beyond the traditional factors in balancing income inequality.     

MIGRANT URBANISM: Cape Verdean Djunta-mon and its Impact on the Built Environment of Cova da Moura (Lisbon)

International migrations are transforming the urban landscape in cities all around the world. In this article I address the effect of Cape Verdean migration on the built environment of Lisbon's periphery. Specifically, I analyse a traditional practice of mutual aid originating in rural Cape Verde, the djunta-mon system, as a device of migrant urbanism projected onto the urban landscape of the Cova da Moura neighbourhood. In this article, which is based on ethnographic fieldwork, I discuss the role of the djunta-mon in the urban evolution of the neighbourhood from its formation in the 1970s to the present day. The data collected shows that this practice has had an important effect on the appropriation, functional delimitation and significance of the urban space by residents. The results thus point to the importance of understanding how the cultures and identities of human groups crystallize through the processes of social production of space.     

Return Migration,Self‐selection and Entrepreneurship

Are return migrants more entrepreneurial? Existing literature has not addressed how estimating the impact of return migration on entrepreneurship is affected by double unobservable migrant self‐selection, both at the initial outward migration and at the final inward return migration stages. This paper exploits exogenous variation provided by the civil war and the incidence of agricultural plagues in Mozambique, as well as social unrest and other shocks in migrant destination countries. The results lend support to overall negative unobservable return migrant self‐selection, which results in an under‐estimation of the effects of return migration on entrepreneurial outcomes when using a ‘naïve’ estimator that does not control for self‐selection at both the initial migration and at the final return migration stages.     

Maternal employment,migration, and child development

We analyze the roles of and interrelationships among school inputs and parental inputs in affecting child development through the specification and estimation of a behavioral model of household migration and maternal employment decisions. We integrate information on these decisions with observations on child outcomes over a 13-year period from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth (NLSY). We find that the impact of our school quality measures diminishes by factors of 2 to 4 after accounting for the fact that families may choose where to live in part based on school characteristics and labor market opportunities. The positive statistical relationship between child outcomes and maternal employment reverses sign and remains statistically significant after controlling for its possible endogeneity. Our estimates imply that when parental responses are taken into account, policy changes in school quality end up having only minor impacts on child test scores.     

Regional foreclosures and Mexican remittances: Evidence from the housing market crisis

This study investigates the extent to which Mexican workers’ remittances are affected from the recent housing market decline in the United States. Results from a multivariate model reveal that an increase in the national U.S. foreclosure rate has a negative and statistically significant impact on Mexican remittances. At the regional level, foreclosure rates of the South and the West have a significant impact on workers’ remittances in the same negative direction. However, foreclosure rates from the North Central and East Central regions do not appear to have this statistically significant impact. Lastly, in contrast to previous results in the literature, real exchange rate movements and Mexican remittances seem to be insensitive to one another once the housing market is accounted for in the analysis.     

Economic and spatial determinants of interregional migration in Kazakhstan

In this paper we analyze economic and spatial determinants of interregional migration in Kazakhstan using quarterly panel data on region to region migration in 2008–2010. The main contribution of the paper relates to the ethnic divide in Kazakhstan, which is the home of a big ethnic Russian community, adding to the scarce literature on ethnic differences in migration patterns. Against this background we investigate whether the determinants of interregional mobility depend on ethnicity. In line with traditional economic theory we find that migration is determined by economic factors, first of all wage. As predicted by gravity arguments, mobility is larger between more populated regions and distance has a strong negative impact on migration, indicating high migration-related costs. Most likely caused by stronger family ties and kinship bonds, the deterring effect of distance is higher for ethnic Kazakhs.     

THE CLIOMETRICS OF INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION: A SURVEY

Abstract This is a survey of some of the key studies in the literature on international migration in history that may be described as cliometric. This literature uses the concepts and approaches of applied economics to investigate a range of historical issues and there are strong parallels with the questions that have been addressed in the literature on contemporary migrations. Here I focus on the period 1850–1940 and chiefly on migration from Europe to the New World. The survey is organized around six themes that include the forces driving migration, over time and across space; the assimilation of migrants and their effects on wages and income distribution in source and destination countries; and the evolution of immigration policy. Although this literature has drawn heavily on the tool kit of applied economists it also provides a wider perspective on many of the issues that concern migration today.     

我国大城市生产和人口过度集中的原因分析

分析了我国劳动力流动的三个重要特征:农民工工资与城市生活成本的非相关性;农民工和应届大学毕业生对城市病的不敏感性;大城市居民中劳动人口较高的迁移成本。在此基础上讨论了其对生产和人口在大城市的过度集中的影响。     

The two stages of an equity carve-out and the price response of parent and subsidiary stock

This paper provides evidence that an equity carve-out is usually the first stage of a two-stage process either to dispose of parent interest in a subsidiary or eventually re-acquire the subsidiary's publicly traded snares. Both the initial carve-out announcement and subsequent sell-off announcement yield, on average, significantly positive abnormal returns to parent shareholders. In contrast, the parent's price response to a re-acquisition of subsidiary shares is, on average, insignificantly positive. Both sell-off and re-acquisition announcements have a strong positive impact on subsidiary share prices. These gains, however, are offset by the subsidiaries' below-average return performance preceding the second event.     

Migrant wages,remittances and recipient labour supply in a moral hazard model

This paper analyzes the interaction between migrants’ income and remittances and between remittances and the labour supply of residents. The model is cast as a two-period game with imperfect information about the residents’ real economic situation. Residents subject to a good economic situation may behave as if they were in a poor economic situation only in order to manipulate remitters’ expectations. The latter, being aware of this risk, reduce the remitted amount accordingly. Therefore, in the equilibrium, residents who really are victims of the bad economic outlook are penalized as compared to the perfect information set-up. In some circumstances, they can signal their type by drastically cutting working hours, thus further enhancing their precarity right when their economic situation is the worst.