Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T08:53:39.316Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

WHO COMES AND WHY? DETERMINANTS OF IMMIGRANTS SKILL LEVEL IN THE EARLY XXTH CENTURY US

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 March 2015

Matías Covarrubias ,
Jeanne Lafortune  and
José Tessada
Matías Covarrubias
Affiliation:
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Chile
Jeanne Lafortune*
Affiliation:
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and EH-Clio Lab UC, Chile
José Tessada
Affiliation:
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and EH-Clio Lab UC, Chile
*
*Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and EH-Clio Lab UC, Chile email: (jlafortune@uc.cl)
Get access

Abstract:

This paper first elaborates a model of intermediate selection where potential migrants must have both the resources to finance the migration cost (liquidity constraint restriction) and an income gain of migrating (economic incentives restriction). We then test the predictions of the model regarding the impact of output in the sending country and migration costs on average skill level of immigrants to the United States from 1899 to 1932, where immigration was initially unrestricted by law and then highly limited. Our panel of 39 countries includes data on occupations that immigrants had in their country of origin, providing a more accurate skill measure than previously available datasets. We find that migration costs have a negative but skill-neutral effect on quantity of immigrants and an increase in output, measured as GDP per capita, has a positive effect on quantity and a negative effect on average skill level of immigrants, suggesting that the main channel by which changes in output affected the average skill level of migrants in that time period is through the easing or tightening of the liquidity constraints and not through the economic incentives as in previous models. Also, using migrants’ occupation in the United States as a measure of skills would lead to misleading conclusions.

Keywords

immigration selectionhigh-skilled migrationmass migration era
Type
Research Papers
Information
Journal of Demographic Economics , Volume 81 , Issue 1 , March 2015 , pp. 115 - 155
Copyright
Copyright © Université catholique de Louvain 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abramitzky, Ran, Boustan, Leah Platt and Eriksson, Katherine (2012) Europe’s tired, poor, huddled masses: self-selection and economic outcomes in the age of mass migration. American Economic Review 102 (5), 1832–56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Abramitzky, Ran, Boustan, Leah Platt and Eriksson, Katherine (2014) A nation of immigrants: assimilation and economic outcomes in the age of mass migration. Journal of Political Economy 122 (3), 467–506.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Aguilar Esteva, Arturo Alberto (2013) Stayers and returners: educational self-selection among U.S. immigrants and returning migrants. IZA discussion papers 7222, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).Google Scholar
Ambrosini, J. William and Peri, Giovanni (2012) The determinants and the selection of Mexico –US migrants. The World Economy 35 (2), 111–151.Google Scholar
Barro, Robert and Ursúa, José (2010) Macroeconomic data. Publicly available dataset. http://scholar.harvard.edu/barro/publications/barro-ursua-macroeconomic-data.Google Scholar
Beine, Michel, Docquier, Frédéric and Ozden, Caglar (2011) Diasporas. Journal of Development Economics 95 (1), 30–41.Google Scholar
Bertoli, Simone and Moraga, Jesús Fernández-Huertas (2013) Multilateral resistance to migration. Journal of Development Economics 102 (0), 79–100.Google Scholar
Borjas, George J. (1987) Self-selection and the earnings of immigrants. American Economic Review 77 (4), 531–53.Google Scholar
Borjas, George J. and Friedberg, Rachel M. (2009) Recent trends in the earnings of new immigrants to the United States. NBER working papers 15406, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.Google Scholar
Carliner, Geoffrey (1980) Wages, earnings and hours of first, second, and third generation american males. Economic Inquiry 18 (1), 87–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carrington, William J., Detragiache, Enrica and Vishwanath, Tara (1996) Migration with endogenous moving costs. American Economic Review 86 (4), 909–30.Google Scholar
Chiquiar, Daniel and Hanson, Gordon H. (2005) International migration, self-selection, and the distribution of wages: evidence from Mexico and the United States. Journal of Political Economy 113 (2), 239–281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chiswick, Barry R. (1978) The effect of americanization on the earnings of foreign-born men. Journal of Political Economy 86 (5), 897–921.Google Scholar
Coulon, Augustin and Piracha, Matloob (2005) Self-selection and the performance of return migrants: the source country perspective. Journal of Population Economics 18 (4), 779–807.Google Scholar
Deininger, Klaus and Squire, Lyn (1996) A new data set measuring income inequality. World Bank Economic Review 10 (3), 565–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Djajić, Slobodan, Kirdar, Murat G. and Vinogradova, Alexandra (2012) Source-country earnings and emigration. mimeo, Norface Migration Conference 2013.Google Scholar
Greenwood, Michael J. and Ward, Zachary (forthcoming) Immigration quotas, world war I, and emigrant flows from the United States in the early 20th century. Explorations in Economic History.Google Scholar
Grogger, Jeffrey and Hanson, Gordon H. (2011) Income maximization and the selection and sorting of international migrants. Journal of Development Economics 95 (1), 42–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ibarrarán, Pablo and Lubotsky, Darren (2005) Mexican immigration and self-selection: new evidence from the 2000 mexican census. NBER working papers 11456, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.Google Scholar
Jasso, Guillermina and Rosenzweig, Mark R. (1990) Self-selection and the earnings of immigrants: comment. American Economic Review 80 (1), 298–304.Google Scholar
Jasso, Guillermina and Rosenzweig, Mark R. (2008) Selection criteria and the skill composition of immigrants: a comparative analysis of Australian and U.S. employment immigration. IZA discussion papers 3564, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).Google Scholar
Lafortune, Jeanne and Tessada, José (2014) Smooth(er) landing. the dynamic role of networks in the location and occupational choice of immigrants. working papers ClioLab 14, May, EH Clio Lab. Instituto de Economia. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.Google Scholar
Mayda, Anna (2010) International migration: a panel data analysis of the determinants of bilateral flows. Journal of Population Economics 23 (4), 1249–1274.Google Scholar
McKenzie, David and Rapoport, Hillel (2007) Network effects and the dynamics of migration and inequality: theory and evidence from Mexico. Journal of Development Economics 84 (1), 1–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKenzie, David and Rapoport, Hillel (2010) Self-selection patterns in Mexico-U.S. migration: the role of migration networks. The Review of Economics and Statistics 92 (4), 811–821.Google Scholar
Mishra, Prachi (2007) Emigration and wages in source countries: evidence from Mexico. Journal of Development Economics 82 (1), 180–199.Google Scholar
Mohammed, Saif I. Sha and Williamson, Jeffrey G. (2004) Freight rates and productivity gains in british tramp shipping 1869–1950. Explorations in Economic History 41 (2), 172–203.Google Scholar
Munshi, Kaivan (2003) Networks in the modern economy: Mexican migrants in the U.S. labor market. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 118 (2), 549–599.Google Scholar
O’Rourke, K. H. and Williamson, J. G. (2001) Globalization and History: The Evolution of a Nineteenth Century Atlantic Economy. MIT Press: Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Orrenius, Pia M. and Zavodny, Madeline (2005) Self-selection among undocumented immigrants from Mexico. Journal of Development Economics 78 (1), 215–240.Google Scholar
Rotte, Ralph and Vogler, Michael (2000) The effects of development on migration: theoretical issues and new empirical evidence. Journal of Population Economics, Springer 13 (3), 485–508.Google Scholar
Roy, A. D. (1951) Some thoughts on the distribution of earnings. Oxford Economic Papers 3 (2), 135–146.Google Scholar
Williamson, Jeffrey G. (1995) The evolution of global labor markets since 1830: background evidence and hypotheses. Explorations in Economic History 32 (2), 141–196.Google Scholar