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1. Monopsony, Efficiency, and the Regularization of Undocumented Immigrants

Author:
George J. Borjas and Anthony Edo
Publication Date:
07-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre d'Etudes Prospectives et d'Informations Internationales (CEPII)
Abstract:
In May 1981, President François Mitterrand regularized the status of undocumented immigrant workers in France. The newly legalized immigrants represented 12 percent of the non-French workforce and about 1 percent of all workers. Employers have monopsony power over undocumented workers because the undocumented may find it costly to participate in the open labor market and have restricted economic opportunities. By alleviating this labor market imperfection, a regularization program can move the market closer to the efficient competitive equilibrium and potentially increase employment and wages for both the newly legalized and the authorized workforce. Our empirical analysis reveals that the Mitterrand regularization program particularly increased employment and wages for low-skill native and immigrant men, and raised French GDP by over 1 percent.
Topic:
Immigrants, Labor Market, Undocumented Population, Monopsony, and Regularization
Political Geography:
Europe, France, and Global Focus

2. Immigrant entrepreneurship in startup cities — what works in which context?

Publication Date:
02-2022
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
MIT Center for International Studies
Abstract:
Migrants are often considered to be ‘natural entrepreneurs’. This notion is based on a presumed inclination to take risks, an openness to new experiences, and a higher willingness to adapt than their local counterparts. Migrants found more businesses relative to the local population in many countries, despite facing additional challenges in the startup process. To support them in overcoming these challenges and to leverage their entrepreneurial potential, more and more organizations create targeted offers for this group of entrepreneurs — particularly in cities with vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystems. Increasingly, these ‘newcomer entrepreneurs’ find that their particular needs are better recognised and taken into account. Despite this, it is still unclear which interventions actually work for which target group, and in which context. Which role do the different stakeholders and systemic mechanisms in the local entrepreneurial ecosystem play?
Topic:
Economics, Entrepreneurship, Business, and Immigrants
Political Geography:
Global Focus

3. How Do Immigrants Promote Exports?

Author:
Gianluca Orefice, Hillel Rapoport, and Gianluca Santoni
Publication Date:
06-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre d'Etudes Prospectives et d'Informations Internationales (CEPII)
Abstract:
How does immigration affect export performance? To answer this question, we propose a unified empirical framework allowing to disentangle various mechanisms put forth in previous literature. These include the role of networks in reducing bilateral transaction costs as well as productivity shifts arising from migration-induced knowledge diffusion and increased workforce diversity. While we find evidence supporting all three channels (at both the intensive and the extensive margins of trade), our framework allows to gauge their relative importance. We then focus on diversity and find stronger results in sectors characterized by more complex production processes and more intense teamwork cooperation. This is consistent with theories linking the distribution of skills to the comparative advantage of nations. The results are robust to using a theoretically grounded IV approach combining three variations on the shift share methodology.
Topic:
Labor Issues, Immigration, Immigrants, Diversity, and Trade
Political Geography:
Global Focus

4. Ulysses Syndrome: Immigrant Limit Stress / El Síndrome de Ulises: el estrés límite del inmigrante

Author:
Juan Carlos Fernández-Rodríguez, Neidy Zenaida Domínguez Pineda, and Fernando Miralles Muñoz
Publication Date:
05-2020
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal on International Security Studies (RESI)
Institution:
International Security Studies Group (GESI) at the University of Granada
Abstract:
In the development of this work, a presentation has been made of the current conditions that can be found in the migratory process and that have the possibility of giving rise to the appearance of the so-called Ulysses Syndrome or Limit Stress Syndrome, in the immigrant population. In this article, special reference is made to the conditions that can be found today in our country, quantitative data are offered that can form a very approximate idea of ​​the enormous magnitude and importance of this migratory phenomenon. Next, a description of the characteristics of the so-called Ulysses Syndrome or Immigrant Syndrome with Chronic and Multiple Stress has been made. In the development of this work, these main characteristics have been shown, with special emphasis on the appearance of a mourning process and on the stress that Ulysses Syndrome can entail. Likewise, the different areas of personal functioning that may be impaired in immigrants and their similarity to a process of mourning (with the possibility of up to seven different types of mourning) have been commented, mainly due to the different personal issues and the different social factors that immigrants leave in their various countries of origin. Next, the symptoms of Ulysses Syndrome are described and the different areas of involvement of people suffering from this disorder are also described. Lastly, a brief reference is made to the possible therapeutic intervention in people affected by the problems described, both if they are in an adult age or if they are in a young infantile age. As it cannot be otherwise, the Syndrome requires preventive intervention, both at the individual and community level.
Topic:
Migration, Immigrants, and Stress
Political Geography:
Europe and Global Focus

5. The Divergent Trajectories of the Global Migration and Refugee Compacts: Implementation amid Crisis

Author:
Lena Kainz, Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan, and Kathleen Newland
Publication Date:
12-2020
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Migration Policy Institute (MPI)
Abstract:
The world has changed dramatically since the international community came together in December 2018 to adopt the Global Compact on Refugees and the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration. Two years on, national governments and UN agencies are working to implement the compacts in an environment of new and intensifying challenges, including those associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and the increasingly severe impacts of climate change. Given the significant political energy invested in the compacts, there is immense pressure to turn the commitments made on paper into reality, challenges or not. And while the migration landscape continues to change, the movement of people across borders remains at the heart of many pressing issues, including public health, economic recovery, and social inequality. This policy brief examines how implementation of the two compacts has played out thus far, highlighting areas in which the pacts have lived up to or fallen short of expectations. It also identifies sticking points and opportunities at the intersection of the compacts that merit greater attention. To do so, the brief draws on interviews with government officials and UN agency representatives in Europe, Africa, and the Americas, as well as an in-depth review of countries’ implementation plans and progress updates.
Topic:
Climate Change, International Cooperation, Migration, Governance, Immigrants, Coronavirus, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
Global Focus

6. Does Birthplace Diversity affect Economic Complexity? Cross-country Evidence

Author:
Dany Bahar, Hillel Rapoport, and Riccardo Turati
Publication Date:
01-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre d'Etudes Prospectives et d'Informations Internationales (CEPII)
Abstract:
We empirically investigate the relationship between a country’s economic complexity and the diversity in the birthplaces of its immigrants. Our cross-country analysis suggests that birthplace diversity is strongly and positively associated with economic complexity. This holds particularly for diversity among highly educated migrants and for countries at intermediate levels of economic complexity. The results are robust to accounting for previous trends in birthplace diversity as well as to using alternatives diversity measures. We address endogeneity concerns by instrumenting diversity through predicted stocks from a pseudo-gravity model as well as from a standard shift-share approach. Finally, we provide evidence suggesting that birthplace diversity boosts economic complexity by increasing the diversification of the host country’s export basket.
Topic:
Economics, International Political Economy, Multiculturalism, Immigrants, Diversity, and Economic Complexity
Political Geography:
Global Focus

7. Reflections of The World during the Covid-19 Pandemic On the Lives of Immigrants

Author:
İlhan Zeynep Karakılıç
Publication Date:
12-2020
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV)
Abstract:
As the Covid-19 epidemic intensified globally, countries began to implement quarantine measures one after the other starting from mid-March. According to the United Nations, 60 thousand decisions were made concerning travel and mobility restrictions in 220 countries. These decisions cause many difficulties that aggravated conditions under the pandemic for immigrants who earned their living by means of temporary mobility. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) made a statement at the end of March when these measures were just implemented, announcing that the Covid-19 global pandemic would be the biggest economic and social shock of the twenty-first century since the September 11 attacks and the 2008 Financial Crisis.
Topic:
Development, Migration, United Nations, Immigrants, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
Global Focus

8. Mitigating the Effects of Trauma among Young Children of Immigrants and Refugees: The Role of Early Childhood Programs

Author:
Maki Park and Caitlin Katsiaficas
Publication Date:
04-2019
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Migration Policy Institute (MPI)
Abstract:
A child’s early years are a time of exceptional growth, and ones that can be profoundly affected by traumatic experiences. Research has firmly disproven the idea that infants and toddlers are “too young” to be affected by such experiences, leading to an increased awareness of the need for trauma-informed services for children. Early childhood education and care (ECEC) programs have the potential to play a central role in identifying and addressing the effects of trauma, with lifelong benefits. Discussions of how to build a trauma-informed approach into ECEC programs, however, generally do not take into account the unique experiences of children of refugees and other immigrants. For example, children who are themselves refugees may have experienced persecution and flight, while U.S.-born children with refugee parents may be affected by such experiences secondhand. Other postmigration stressors, such as chronic exposure to discrimination or, among families with unauthorized immigrant members, fear of deportation can also affect young children’s socioemotional and cognitive development. This issue brief explores the types of trauma that may affect young children in immigrant families, what the effects of those experiences may be, and what can be done to protect children against them. Among these opportunities: promoting the systematic use of mental health screening tools that are appropriate both for young children and for use across cultures, and boosting collaboration between ECEC providers, health services, and organizations that work with immigrants to ensure that young children and their families are referred to needed services in a timely fashion.
Topic:
Education, Children, Refugees, Immigrants, and Trauma
Political Geography:
Global Focus

9. Hostile Environment: How Immigrants Became Scapegoats with Dr. Maya Goodfellow

Publication Date:
11-2019
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Mile End Institute, Queen Mary University of London
Abstract:
In this event, Maya Goodfellow discussed her new book 'Hostile Environment: How Immigrants Became Scapegoats' in conversation with Tim Bale, Co-Director of the Mile End Institute.m
Topic:
Border Control, Immigrants, Discrimination, and Xenophobia
Political Geography:
Global Focus

10. The Links Between Immigration, Migration and Human Trafficking

Author:
Joey White
Publication Date:
01-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center on Human Rights Education, University of Denver
Abstract:
Our sister organization, Human Trafficking Center (HTC) are the experts on the matter of human trafficking and use academic rigor, sound methodology, and reliable data to promote understanding of human trafficking and its causes, conditions, and cures. In a recent blog, HTC defines the connection between trafficking and migration: “Trafficking is migration gone terribly wrong.” – David Feingold. These words given by David Feingold in his piece Trafficking in Numbers: The Social Construction of Human Trafficking Data give a whole new insight into what human trafficking is, what realms human trafficking occurs within, and how human trafficking happens. Indeed, human trafficking and migration are inextricably linked. Human trafficking is heavily influenced by migration. Any policies regarding one have a tremendous effect on the other. This is why it is so vital to examine immigration policies and take into account what impacts they will have in the anti-trafficking sphere, particularly in today’s political climate.”
Topic:
Human Rights, Migration, Immigrants, and Human Trafficking
Political Geography:
Global Focus