This paper contains three important contributions to the literature on international migrations. First, it compiles a new dataset on migration flows and stocks and on immigration laws for 14 OECD ...destination countries and 74 sending countries for each year over the period 1980-2005. Second, it extends the empirical model of migration choice across multiple destinations, developed by Grogger and Hanson (2008), by allowing for unobserved individual heterogeneity between migrants and non-migrants. We use the model to derive a pseudo-gravity empirical specification of the economic and legal determinants of international migration. Our estimates show that bilateral migration flows are increasing in the income per capita gap between origin and destination. We also find that bilateral flows decrease significantly when the destination countries adopt stricter immigration laws. Third, we estimate the impact of immigration flows on employment, investment and productivity in the receiving OECD countries using as instruments the ”push” factors only in the gravity equation. We find that immigration increases employment one for one, implying no crowding-out of natives. In addition, investment responds rapidly and vigorously, and total factor productivity is not affected. These results imply that immigration increases the total GDP of the receiving country in the short-run one-for-one, without affecting average wages or labor productivity. We also find that the effects of immigration are less beneficial when the receiving economy is in bad economic times.
This paper contains three important contributions to the literature on international migrations. First, it compiles a new dataset on migration flows and stocks and on immigration laws for 14 OECD ...destination countries and 74 sending countries for each year over the period 1980-2005. Second, it extends the empirical model of migration choice across multiple destinations, developed by Grogger and Hanson (2008), by allowing for unobserved individual heterogeneity between migrants and non-migrants. We use the model to derive a pseudo-gravity empirical specification of the economic and legal determinants of international migration. Our estimates show that bilateral migration flows are increasing in the income per capita gap between origin and destination. We also find that bilateral flows decrease significantly when the destination countries adopt stricter immigration laws. Third, we estimate the impact of immigration flows on employment, investment and productivity in the receiving OECD countries using as instruments the ”push” factors only in the gravity equation. We find that immigration increases employment one for one, implying no crowding-out of natives. In addition, investment responds rapidly and vigorously, and total factor productivity is not affected. These results imply that immigration increases the total GDP of the receiving country in the short-run one-for-one, without affecting average wages or labor productivity. We also find that the effects of immigration are less beneficial when the receiving economy is in bad economic times.
Since the beginning of 1990s, Turkey has been exposed to large amounts of capital flows with significant effects on the economic performance. This study examines the determinants of capital flows ...into Turkey in the traditional ‘push-pull’ factors approach. To this end, a structural vector autoregression (SVAR) model has been employed and impulse-response and variance decomposition functions have been produced covering the period from 1992 : 01 to 2005 : 12. The same analysis has also been carried out for the two sub-periods 1992 : 01-2001 : 12 and 2002:01-2005 : 12 to inspect if there exists a change in the roles of push and pull factors before and after the 2001 economic crisis. The empirical evidence suggests that the relative roles of some of the factors have changed considerably in the post crisis period and pull factors are in general dominant over push factors in determining capital flows into Turkey.
In this paper I empirically investigate economic and non-economic determinants of migration inflows into fourteen OECD countries by country of origin, between 1980 and 1995. The annual panel data set ...used makes it possible to exploit both the time-series and cross-country variation in immigrant inflows. I focus on both supply and demand determinants of migration patterns and find results broadly consistent with the theoretical predictions of a standard international-migration model. Both first and second moments of the income distribution in the destination and origin countries shape international migration movements. In particular, I find evidence of robust and significant pull effects, that is the positive impact on immigrant inflows of improvements in the mean income opportunities in the host country. Inequality in the origin and destination economies affects the size of migration rates as predicted by Borjas (1987) selection model. Finally, among the non-economic determinants, I investigate the impact on emigration rates of geographical, cultural, and demographic factors as well as the role played by changes in destination countries' migration policies.
Research hypotheses from various migration-theory approaches are tested through a study focusing on a sample of 1,560 IT university students in India, just prior to the completion of their studies. ...The representative survey was conducted across India during the summer of 2003. The effect of economic and socio-political factors on the students’ willingness to migrate was examined by using variance analysis. The results show, on the one hand, a generally high willingness among those surveyed to migrate to industrialised countries, but on the other hand, a substantial number of IT-students want to stay in their home country, India. Economic factors tend to play a much greater role on their migration decisions, rather than say the sending or receiving country’s institutional or socio-political aspects. The significance test of individual factors shows that economic as well as institutional considerations; such as good career opportunities, a high income, and a high living standard, are considerably more important than other socio-political as well as institutional factors. Indian IT graduates evaluated better career opportunities much higher in their home country as compared to other locations. In an explicit location comparison of Germany with India and the United States/Canada - the classic immigration countries - as one of the potential host countries, the respondents rated only language/culture significantly higher for the United States/Canada than for Germany. The remaining economic and socio-political factors were rated higher for USA/Canada but do not show any significant differences between Germany, India, and USA/Canada. Interestingly, a location comparison of India with Germany and United States/Canada shows that IT graduates evaluated (salary, career opportunity, self employment, language/culture and social networks) significantly higher for their native country than for Germany and United States/Canada. Hence, in an international competition for skilled labour/best IT specialists, India has also emerged as an attractive location. ZUSAMMENFASSUNG - (MZur Bewertung der Migrationsentscheidung von IT-Hochschulabsolventen aus Indien: Eine Empirische Untersuchung) Wir testen Forschungshypothesen aus migrationtheoretischen Ansätzen anhand einer Stichprobe von 1,560 kurz von dem Studienabschluss stehenden IT-Hochschulabsolventen aus Indien. Die repräsentative Befragung wurde im Sommer 2003 landesweit in Indien durchgeführt. Mit Hilfe der Varianzanalyse wird die Wirkung der ökonomischen sowie gesellschaftspolitischen Einflussfaktoren auf die Migrationbereitschaft der Hochschulabsolventen unter-sucht. Die Ergebnisse zeigen einerseits eine hohe generelle Migration-bereitschaft der indischen IT-Absolventen in Industrieländer. Andererseits ist aber das Verbleiben in ihrem Heimatland Indien eine starke Alternative. Ökonomische Gründe spielen generell für die Migrationentscheidung eine viel wichtigere Rolle als andere institutionelle oder gesellschaftspolitische Aspekte im Herkunfts- und Empfängerland. Der Signifikanztest der einzelnen Einflussfaktoren bestätigt, dass ökonomische Gründe wie gute Karrieremöglich-keiten, hohes Einkommen und besserer Lebensstandard bei allen Empfänger-ländern signifikant wichtiger sind als die gesellschaftspolitischen Determinanten (wie Ausländerfeindlichkeiten, Aufenthalterlaubnis, Sprache und Soziale Netzwerke). Indische IT-Hochschulabsolventen bewerten gute Karrieremöglich-keiten höher in Ihrem Heimland als bei allen Empfängerländern. Bei einem konkreten Standortvergleich zwischen Deutschland, Indien und dem klassischen Immigrationsland USA bewerten die Befragten die Determinanten (wie Soziale Netzwerke, Karrieremöglichkeiten, Möglichkeit der Selbstständig-keit, das Gehalt und Sprache) signifikant wichtiger für Ihr Heimatland als für die USA und Deutschland. Im Wettbewerb um die besten IT-Experten ist Indien im Vergleich zu Nordamerikanischen Ländern und Deutschland ebenfalls ein attraktiver Standort.
Discrete choice models are used to investigate the individual’s choice among a discrete number of alternatives. The characteristics of each alternative, by means of a multinomial and nested ...multinomial models have been taken into account. Specifically, this study analyses the impact of choice specific characteristics (attributes) in a model of choice between different country locations. Individual IT-Graduates are assumed to choose a single type of move, stayhome or go-abroad, while simultaneously choosing a country of their choice. We demonstrate that a nested logit model is appropriate on both theoretical and empirical grounds. The sample consists of 1,500 IT-Graduates from Pakistan. The results show a high migration propensity for foreign destinations. While comparing the direct elasticities (at branch level) of home with the foreign destination types we observe that the economic factors such as self-employment and higher career position show greater effects than the sociopolitical as well as institutional factors (social networks and residence permit). A location comparison between the destinations Germany and USA/Canada (of the cross elasticities) shows that the magnitude of the values of elasticities are found to be higher for North American countries than for Germany. This suggests that IT-Graduates evaluate the factors self- employment, higher career positions, social networks and residence permit more important and significantly higher for North American destinations than for Germany. In addition we find a strong evidence for a competition between countries for high potentials from Pakistan. ZUSAMMENFASSUNG - (Migrationsentscheidung von IT-Hochschulabsolventen: Ein zweistufiges Nested-Logitmodell) Mit Hilfe von Modellen für diskrete abhängige Variablen untersuchen wir die individuelle Auswahl aus einer Anzahl von Alternativen bei der Migration. Die Charaktaristika der einzelnen Alternativen im Zusammenhang von Multinomial bzw. Nestedmodellen sind berücksichtigt worden. Wir untersuchen den Einfluss von auswahlspezifischen Charaktaristika in einem Modell zur Auswahl zwischen verschiedenen Empfängerländern. IT-Hochschulabsolventen wählen ausgehend von zwei Alternativmöglichkeiten (Migration oder im Land bleiben), eine Alternative aus und wählen simultan ein bestimmtes Land. Es zeigt sich, dass ein "Nestedlogit-modell" sowohl in theoretischer als auch in empirischer Hinsicht für die Untersuchung am besten geeignet ist. Die Stichprobe besteht aus ca. 1500 IT-Hochschulabsolventen aus Pakistan. Die Ergebnisse zeigen eine höhere Neigung auf, ein ausländisches Land zu wählen. Beim Vergleich der Direktelastizitäten für die erste Stufe beobacten wir für die Faktoren Selbstständigkeit und gute Karrieremöglichkiten einen höheren Einfluss als für die gesellschaftspolitische Determinaten (Soziale Netzwerke und Aufentshaltserlaubnis). Bei einem Standortvergleich zwischen Deutschland und dem klassischen Immigrationsland USA (basiert auf Kreuzelastizitäten) zeigt sich ferner, dass das Ausmaß der Elastisitätenwerte höher für Nordamerikanischen Länder ist als für Deutschland. Dies bedeutet, dass die ITHochschulabsolventen die Faktoren: die Selbstständigkeit, gute Karrieremöglichkeit, soziale Netzwerke und Aufenthaltserlaubnis für die Nordamerikanischen Länder signifikant höher bewerten als für Deutschland. Zusätzlich finden wir eine Evidenz für die Existenz von Wettbewerb zwischen Ländern für die IT-Hochschulabsolventen aus Pakistan.
Research and development (R&D) is an important resource for sustained economic growth. New knowledge created by a firm has spillover effects that improve the productivity of other firms and even ...other sectors. This is the heart of endogenous growth theory. In this framework, government policies can affect the rate of long-term economic growth by impacting the accumulation of both physical and human capital and the effort dedicated to research and development and the creation of new knowledge. A country can supplement its R&D efforts by enticing R&D firms to locate in the country or encourage local firms and multinational corporations operating there to conduct R&D activities. Factors that affect these decisions can be classified into push factors, pull factors, policy factors, and enabling factors. The last three are relevant for the host country while the first set of factors relate to the home country. A survey of firms operating in the Philippines was conducted to determine which factors are deemed important and areas where the Philippines is deemed inadequate. The findings have important policy implications. Push factors are found to be important, particularly the need to remain competitive. The pull factors that rate highly are (i) availability of talented skills at low cost; and (ii) size of market. The main policy factors that encourage firms to locate in the Philippines are: (i) good quality of education; and (ii) protection of intellectual property rights. The enabling factors are: (i) low cost of doing business; (ii) good physical and communication infrastructure; (iii) legal system; and (iv) availability of R&D support services. Two aspects are prominent in terms of discouraging R&D activity in the Philippines: (i) the high cost of R&D equipment and technology; and (ii) lack of technical manpower/engineers. Policies can look into the host country factors that do not rate highly and address the areas that are evaluated poorly. Policymakers should also be aware of the source of outward R&D spending which are mainly firms from the US and Japan. Most R&D of these firms is conducted in the ICT, automotive, and pharmaceutical industries. Meanwhile, interviews with associations of firms indicate that there is no cooperation among individual firms in terms of conducting R&D. The government can also initiate, strengthen, and support joint R&D efforts among firms in a specific sector given that there will likely be significant spillover effects in this type of endeavor.
It is agreed that transnational networking plays an important role in the effectiveness of ethnic entrepreneurial firms. Yet, distinctions between the different types of transnational networking and ...their effects on business effectiveness have received scant attention in the literature, probably because ethnicity has been considered the main actor in the networkingeffectiveness relationship. This paper argues that one of the reasons business effectiveness differs across ethnic entrepreneurial firms is that ethnic entrepreneurs engage in dissimilar types of transnational networking. Analyses of the data generated by 720 ethnic entrepreneurs in Canada, revealed that ethnicity, human capital and push-pull factors play a central role in the engagement of different types of transitional networking; and the different types of transnational networking affect the business turnover (sales) and the business survival (age). Push-pull factors were found to play a marginal role in the business effectiveness. These results highlight the competitive market immigrants and members of ethnic minority groups encounter in the hosting economy and stress the value of transnational networking.
Some argue for a robust military solution inside Somalia to counter the piracy problem while others maintain that the problem is not at all suited for employing military force. Many articles focus on ...the impact of piracy on the International Shipping. Only very few take a holistic view on the issue, and discuss 2. or 3. order consequences of piracy in the area as a whole. Counter Piracy Operations have been going on for some years but, so far, only military means have been employed by the international community to counter piracy in the region. No unified holistic strategy has been applied, even though there seems to be consensus that the root causes are found in Somalia itself. With a holistic focus on the piracy issue off the coast of Somalia, this paper will analyze the root causes of piracy, the actors to influence, the Push-Pull factors and balance of risk involved. The paper identifies that the international community has so far primarily addressed the Pull factors focusing on naval force, disrupting pirate camps and law enforcement while leaving the Push Factors ashore largely unaddressed. Looking towards Afghanistan, the paper suggests employing elements in NATO's Comprehensive Approach in order to address all factors driving piracy, and recommends a design for how the Comprehensive Approach can be applied to the case of Somalia. The paper combines the current military efforts on Counter Piracy with a local civilian support to the Somali costal population primarily in Northeastern Somalia in a mutually supportive way From the Sea suggesting a naval PRT construction supporting Ink Blots of engagements ashore. In contrast to Afghanistan, the suggested Comprehensive Approach is applied bottom up, because it is focused only to counter piracy leaving the strategic effort to restore governance in Somalia to another time horizon.
