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Protectionist policies have often relevant effects at the regional level. This paper analyzes the impact of sugar import duties on emigration in nineteenth century Italy. Both for climatic reasons and the nature of the soil, the cultivation and processing of sugar beets was geographically concentrated. Our theoretical model illustrates how a tariff that favours local producers may affect residents' incentives to migrate abroad. Using a new set historical data, the predictions of the model are tested through quasi‐experimental methods which use the exogenous variation in sugar cultivation across areas to estimate the effect of interest. Results show that protectionism reduced the relative incentive to migrate away from sugar‐producing areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to study elderly migration in France. First, it analyses whether the decision to migrate relies upon individual characteristics. Second, it examines the ways in which the economic, social and environmental characteristics of the French territories determine the retirees' choice of localization. The paper draws upon a unique database of 12.67 million French inhabitants, with information about their personal attributes and locational choices from 2003 to 2008. It also uses an original database with locational characteristics for the French territories at the level of the 364 zones d'emploi. This is the only study on regional migration in France which builds upon such a thin spatial level of analysis. The paper builds empirical probit and Heckman models dealing with selection bias and endogeneity bias issues. The paper shows that retirees usually leave large agglomerations and old industrial areas in Northern France and the Paris agglomeration and relocate to socially and environmentally attractive zones with preferable climates. When studying the migration patterns within the zones d'emploi, it appears that the most vulnerable zones, which display a lower quality of collective services as well as higher income disparities and crime rates, feature lower elderly residential mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effect of international mobility on the education‐job mismatch and skill‐mismatch of PhD graduates after controlling for self‐selection into cross‐border mobility. Using individual‐level data from two waves of surveys of PhD recipients in Italy conducted by the Italian National Institute of Statistics, we find that migration to foreign countries reduces significantly the risk of overeducation and overskilling. These results remain robust to different empirical methodologies and subsamples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the wage returns to interregional mobility among Italian Ph.D workers. We control for selection bias in both migration and occupation choice by estimating a double sample selection model. While OLS estimates indicate a positive wage premium of mobility across all types of occupations examined, wage equations estimated by correcting for double sample selection evidence a wage penalty for movers within academia, no effects for movers carrying out R&D activities but positive returns if they work within the industry sector. The selection process appears to be stronger when mobility choice is considered in comparison to the choice of occupation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the main determinants of the welfare gap between rural–urban migrants and non‐migrants (both urban and rural) in Tunisia. The lack of data on the expenditure of migrant and non‐migrant households is overcome by applying the ELL (Elbers, Lanjouw and Lanjouw) methodology. The decomposition results show a positive welfare gains from rural‐to‐urban migration, especially among the younger generation born after the failure of the collectivism experiment in 1961. The education level of the household's head and the household's size appear as the main sources of the welfare gap. The unconditional quantile regression decomposition shows that the endowment effect contributes more to the welfare gap than the discrimination effect at the bottom part of the welfare distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recent literature strand has emphasized the importance of international migration on the institutional quality of sending and receiving countries. On the contrary, there is no evidence of the effects of intra‐national, interregional mobility on government quality, a phenomenon which is particularly relevant in countries affected by significant internal dualism. Using a system generalized method of moments (SYS‐GMM) estimator on a 2004–2012 panel dataset, this paper empirically investigates the relationship between internal net‐migration and institutional quality of Italian provinces. The findings show that migration has a relevant and positive effect on the quality of institutions only when the human capital content is taken into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using matched employer‐employee full population data on regional migrants in Sweden, this paper addresses the question whether the urban wage premium, and 'thick' labour market matching effects, are to be found across all educational groups, and whether the population threshold for these types of effects varies by educational category. Estimating initial wages, average wage level and wage growth 2001‐2009, we find similar wage premiums for all workers in the three largest metropolitan areas, but that there are distinct population thresholds for these type of effects, regardless of educational background. However, job search behaviour as explaining dynamic effects over time seems to pertain mostly to those with higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is the effect of an increase in the stock of human capital due to skilled immigration on the innovative performance of recipient economies? Combining firm-level micro-data with area-level labour force information, this paper investigates the impact of skilled international migration inflows on firms' product and process innovation in British local labour market areas. The paper supports the evidence in favour of a causal link between immigration and innovation. Results also show that the nature of the innovative process and the typology of innovative activities performed by local firms play a key role in the relation between immigration and innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper empirically tests the relationships between interregional labour migration and regional real wages based on a multi-region economic geography model, which describes bilateral migration flows. In particular, this paper highlights real wage disparities in the migration analysis. Our empirical methodology contains two steps. First, we structurally estimate a gravity model using manufacturing workers' migration flows across the 47 Japanese prefectures. Second, using the estimates of the structural parameters, we examine the impact of the real wage on the net migration rate. We find that migrants respond to real wage disparities, rather than to nominal wage disparities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates a possible crowding-out effect of immigration in Canadian labour markets and explores how location choices of native-born workers can be influenced by industry and occupation specific immigration clustering in both the potential destinations and the departure regions. We apply choice-specific, clustered fixed-effect response models. The results show that industry-specific immigration clustering indices have strong and negative effects on the location choices of the native born. When the scaled immigration measures are used, the results confirm the 'substitution' hypothesis: native-born workers who choose lower immigration in their destinations also move from the origins with higher immigration in their industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on the problem of testing for the existence and direction of causality in a group of variables, with a spatial framework. Our objective is to produce useful criteria to discuss causality on rational and objective bases. We introduce a new non-parametric test, based on symbolic entropy, which is robust to the functional form of the relation. The test has good behaviour in samples of medium to large size. The proposal is illustrated with an application to the case of migration versus unemployment, using data on 3,108 US counties for the period 2003-2008. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of urban externalities on migration flows has not been fully examined in the previous literature. This paper investigates whether a change in dwellings across cities is associated with a specific urban externality, crime rates, using urban-to-urban migration data at the municipal level. Gravity equation results show that migration is affected by crime rates, not only locally but also when neighbouring effects are taken into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines determinants of couple migration in a model that accounts for self-selection of migrant couples. The study is based on a sample of married couples from the Swedish population. The model incorporates controls for earnings of both spouses preceding the move, and explicitly addresses unmeasured heterogeneity in the family decision to migrate. Two statistical formulations are presented. In the first version, migration is measured as a dichotomous move/stay decision. A second formulation replaces the dichotomous indicator with the distance moved by migrants. Results suggest that family migration is selective of relatively low earning wives with unmeasured potential for strong earnings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tries to ascertain whether spatial contagion operated in international migration across neighbouring provinces in Spain during the 1998-2009 period. After a general depiction of the international migration distribution in Spain, the study focuses on the role played by space and, particularly, on the possible existence of geographical contagion effects. For this aim, two novel indexes of spatial contagion, based on a spatial Markov chain approach, are proposed. Two main results are drawn from the analysis: first, that spatial clustering exists in the distribution; second, that there are contagion effects, positive contagion among provinces surrounded by high-immigration provinces being the most significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the effect of workers' spatial flexibility (commuting and migration) on their probability of being over-educated. The empirical analysis deals with two possible sources of misspecification: the endogeneity of migration and the omission of relevant job characteristics. It also controls for area and personal characteristics. Results show that commuting is positively correlated with the quality of the education-job match. However, analysis does not support the conventional wisdom that migration unambiguously reduces over-education. It seems fair to conclude that the link between migration and over-education remains unclear and that further research is needed in order to better ground policy prescriptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the effect of skill heterogeneity on regional patterns of production and housing in the presence of pecuniary externalities within a general-equilibrium framework. The analysis allows for interregional commuting. Low-skilled workers choose to live and work in the periphery, the medium-skilled commute to the core, and the highly-skilled live and work in the core. At the regional level, individual choices imply that the average skill level of employees is higher in the core regions than in the peripheral regions. In particular, in the peripheral regions, the average skill level of employees is lower than the average skill level of residents, some of whom commute to the core. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transport infrastructure has represented one of the cornerstones of development and cohesion strategies in the European Union (EU) and elsewhere in the world. However, despite the considerable funds devoted to it, its impact remains controversial. This paper revisits the question of to what extent transport infrastructure endowment - proxied by regional motorways - has contributed to regional growth in the EU between 1990 and 2004. It analyses infrastructure in relationship to other factors which may condition economic growth, such as innovation, migration, and the local 'social filter', taking also into account the geographical component of intervention in transport infrastructure and innovation. The results of the two-way fixed-effect (static) and difference GMM (dynamic) panel data regressions indicate that infrastructure endowment is a relatively poor predictor of economic growth and that regional growth in the EU results from a combination of an adequate 'social filter', good innovation capacity, both in the region and in neighbouring areas, and a region's capacity to attract migrants. The meagre returns of infrastructure endowment on economic growth raise interesting questions about the opportunity costs of further infrastructure investments across most of Western Europe. Resumen La infraestructura de transporte ha venido siendo una de las piedras angulares de las estrategias de desarrollo y cohesión en la Unión Europea ( UE) y el resto del mundo. Sin embargo, y a pesar de los considerables recursos que se le ha dedicado, su impacto es un tema controvertido. Este artículo revisa el interrogante de hasta que punto ha contribuido la dotación de infraestructura de transporte - representada por las autopistas regionales - al crecimiento regional en la UE entre 1990 y 2004. Se analiza la infraestructura en relación a otros factores que podrían condicionar el crecimiento económico, como la innovación, la migración, y el 'filtro social' local, teniendo en cuenta asimismo el componente geográfico de la intervención en la infraestructura de transporte y la innovación. Los resultados de las regresiones de datos de panel de efectos fijos (método estático) de doble vía y MGM por diferencias (método dinámico) indican que la dotación de infraestructura es un pobre indicador del crecimiento económico y que el crecimiento regional en la UE tiene su origen en una combinación de un 'filtro social' adecuado, en una buena capacidad innovadora tanto en la región como en áreas vecinas, y en la capacidad de la región de atraer migración. Los escasos retornos para el crecimiento económico de la dotación de infraestructura suscitan cuestiones interesantes sobre los costos de oportunidad de futuras inversiones en infraestructura para la mayoría de Europa Occidental. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses factors influencing the destinations chosen by 13 different categories of migrant engineers in the USA between 1994 to 1999. Migration patterns are analysed with the aid of fractional-response regression models. The objective is to assess the relative weight of employment opportunities and selected amenities in guiding the migratory shifts of these workers. Engineers are divided into two categories representing individuals of working age and those who are either retired or are close to retirement. The results indicate that local employment opportunities have a dominant impact on the destinations chosen by the former group and that amenities play virtually no role in this regard. However, warmer winters have some modest positive effect on destinations chosen by the latter group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel method for modelling internal migration dynamics using non-stationary causative matrices. Its application to annual migration flows in Spain reveals changes in location preferences of migrants between 1986 and 2003. Our approach also indicates some instability in Spain's migratory system prior to the late 1990s, as opposed to a negligible instability after that. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The standard growth model predicts that allowing labour mobility across regions would increase the speed of convergence in per capita income levels and that migration has a negative causal impact on regional growth rates. Although the empirical literature has uncovered some evidence for the former implication, the latter has not been verified empirically. This paper provides empirical evidence for the negative causal impact of migration on provincial growth rates in a developing country with a high level of internal migration characterized by unskilled labour exiting rural areas for urban centres. We utilize an instrumental variables estimation method with an instrument unique to the country examined, controlling for provincial fixed effects. Resumen El modelo de crecimiento estándar predice que el permitir la movilidad laboral entre regiones aumentará la rapidez en alcanzar una convergencia en los niveles de ingresos per cápita y que la migración tiene un impacto causal negativo en las tasas de crecimiento regionales. Aunque la literatura empírica ha descubierto alguna prueba de la primera implicación, la última no ha sido verificada empíricamente. Este artículo proporciona pruebas empíricas del impacto causal negativo de la migración en las tasas de crecimiento provinciales en un país en desarrollo con una elevada migración interna caracterizada por mano de obra no cualificada desplazándose de las áreas rurales a los centros urbanos. Utilizamos un método de estimación de variables instrumentales con un instrumento único para el país examinado, al tiempo que controlamos los efectos fijos provinciales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study exploits the variability in the incidence of recent immigration inflows and the change in native employment in the Italian provinces to shed light on the impact of immigration on employment in rigid local labour markets. The study focuses on the period that followed the financial and sovereign debt crises, which strongly hit the labour markets of the Italian provinces. The results reveal a negligible overall impact of immigration on provincial employment which, however, hides differentiated impacts for different groups of natives. Employment responses to immigration shocks vary greatly depending on the skills and gender of the natives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite recent research evidence that an increased share of immigrants in an area causes an increase in anti‐immigrant‐party votes, the electoral impact of exposure to immigration appears virtually non‐existent—or even contrary—in urban areas. This study thus reassesses the latter using disaggregated data for Milan, Italy's second‐largest city. The spatial scale of the analysis addresses the possible bias from aggregating neighbourhoods that are experiencing different immigration inflows. Using a sharp measure of anti‐immigration vote and a new instrumental variable to address the possible endogeneity of immigrant share, I find that exposure to immigration has a positive effect on anti‐immigration‐party votes even in urban contexts. These results are of possible major interest to moderate political forces and European institutions and could usefully guide policy‐makers in designing immigrant location policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, Australia has experienced high rates of immigration. We investigate the effect that this has had on housing prices at the postcode level. The endogeneity of immigrant inflows is accounted for using the Bartik shift‐share approach. Using data from the censuses in 2006, 2011, and 2016, we find that an immigrant inflow of 1% of a postcode's population raises housing prices by around 0.9% per year. As a result, Australian housing prices would have been around 1.1% lower per annum had there been no immigration. The size of this effect is broadly consistent with that found for other countries. The effects of immigration on housing prices were larger in the more recent part of the period examined and strongest in the states of New South Wales and Victoria, and the cities of Melbourne and Adelaide. Chinese and Indian immigrant groups are shown to have a strong positive influence on prices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is a departure from the classic analysis of the effect of international migration on human capital. Using original data from a nationally representative survey in Moldova, we employ discrete choice and count‐data models to evaluate the effect of international migration on the likelihood that "left‐behind" household members with tertiary education migrate domestically. Thus, we propose an original framework of identifying a causal relationship between international and internal migration. The main findings support the hypothesis that international migration leads to an increase in the preference for urban jobs of tertiary‐educated left‐behind household members with peripheral rural origins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on the role of local climate conditions in spurring interregional migration in China over the period 2000 to 2010. We developed a robust empirical approach based on a correlated random effects model and a prefecture‐level panel dataset which allows us to account for both within province migration flows and prefecture‐specific characteristics. Empirical results reveal that climate conditions are important determinants of migration in China. Specifically, prefectures with warmer winter, cooler summer, and more available sunshine are more attractive to migrants. Economic factors such as income level and employment opportunities are also important drivers of population growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I develop a discrete choice dynamic migration model to examine the importance of amenity values in immigrants' migration decisions. The model accounts for differentials in both wages and location-specific amenities as determinants of migration decisions, and the size of migrants' networks is allowed to influence the value of the US location choice as well. By estimating the model using panel data from the Mexican Migration Project, I find that Mexican migrants place substantial value on amenities in the United States, which are shown to fall precipitously with migrants' age. Simulation results from policy experiments indicate that Mexican immigrants are more responsive to a policy that reduces the amenity values related to unauthorized US residence than to an increase in the number of border patrol officers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An innovation-diffusion model was developed with agent-based modelling ( ABM); the model is used to study technical innovation and its diffusion process in China. The results are as follows: only a small fraction of firms conduct independent product-innovation, and most firms prefer imitation and/or purchases; most of the innovative firms are located in the East; approximately three or four technology generation products can exist in the market simultaneously; preferential policies can speed the process of innovation diffusion and improve economies of less developed areas, especially in Middle China; lastly, preferential policies can also improve the labour attractiveness of the Middle, West and Northeast and reduce emigration to the East. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theory suggests that the spatial patterns of migration flows are contingent both on individual human capital and underlying geographical structures. Here we demonstrate these features by using circular statistics in an econometric modelling framework applied to the flows of UK university graduates. While the traditional statistical techniques applied in economics do not fully account for the complexity of mobility flows, these techniques to study directionality are still relatively unexplored. The database used includes observations on around 30,000 British graduates. Our results suggest that a higher level of human capital is associated with more unidirectional flows as higher human capital migrants selectively target specific labour markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optimal allocation of people between heterogeneous cities is studied in a club model. Because of externalities, migration alone cannot yield efficiency. First-best optima are feasible, if the externalities are properly internalized to people's decisions by local or national policy. Yet, implementation of these policies suffers from instability problems and too exacting information requirements. Joint local-national policy based on individual welfare is superior in these respects. In club theoretic terms, the main finding is that total-economy viewed policy-making is not necessary to evoke first-best efficiency even when the number of non-homogenous clubs is fixed. In other words, resting on standard Pigovian and Coasian patterns is not needed. Se estudia la asignación optima de individuos entre ciudades heterogéneas en un modelo de club. Debido a las externalidades, la migración por sí sola no puede conllevar eficiencia. Lograr óptimos del mejor primero (first-best) es factible si las externalidades se internalizan adecuadamente a las decisiones de los individuos mediante políticas locales o nacionales. A pesar de ello, la implementación de estas políticas padece problemas de inestabilidad y requerimientos de información demasiado rigurosos. Las políticas conjuntas locales-nacionales basadas en el bienestar de los individuos son superiores en este aspecto. En términos de teoría de club, el hallazgo principal es que la formulación de políticas bajo la visión de economía total no es necesaria para insinuar la eficiencia del mejor primero, incluso cuando el número de clubs no homogéneos es fijo. En otras palabras, no es necesario el apoyarse en patrones pigouvianos y coasianos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We estimate a regional spatial panel simultaneous-equations growth model, using a five-step new estimation strategy that generalizes an approach outlined in Kelejian and Prucha. The study region consists of the 418 Appalachian counties 1980−2000. Estimates show feedback simultaneities among the endogenous variables, conditional convergence with respect to the respective endogenous variables, and spatial autoregressive lag and spatial cross-regressive lag effects with respect to the endogenous variables. A key policy conclusion is that sector-specific programs should be integrated and harmonized and that regionally differentiated development policies may yield greater returns than treating all locations the same. Estimamos un modelo de crecimiento de panel espacial regional por ecuaciones simultaneas, utilizando una nueva estrategia de estimación de cinco pasos que generaliza una enfoque descrito en Kelejian y Prucha. La región de estudio comprende los 418 condados Apalaches 1980-2000. Las estimaciones muestran simultaneidades de retroalimentación entre las variables endógenas, convergencia condicional con respecto a las variables endógenas respectivas, y un retardo espacial autorregresivo y efectos de retardo regresivos cruzados espaciales con respecto a las variables endógenas. Una conclusión clave sobre políticas es que los programas sectoriales específicos deberían estar integrados y armonizados, y que las políticas de desarrollo diferenciadas regionalmente podrían producir mejores retornos que si se tratasen todas las localizaciones del mismo modo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent theoretical research deals with economic costs and benefits of cultural diversity related to immigration. However, empirical evidence regarding the impact of cultural diversity on economic performance is still scarce. We analyse the effect of cultural diversity of the labour force on patent applications for a cross-section of German regions. The results suggest that differences in knowledge and capabilities of workers from diverse cultural backgrounds enhance performance of regional R&D sectors. As regards innovation, the benefits of diversity seem to outweigh the costs caused, for example, by communication barriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the challenges that migration flows pose on policymaking aimed at fostering human capital accumulation in peripheral regions. We employ a unique data set generated through a postal survey designed and conducted by the authors. The focus of our analysis is on the micro-level location decisions of a sample of highly educated and skilled individuals residing in Basilicata, an Italian Mezzogiorno region, who have benefited from a locally funded human capital investment policy. Investigamos los retos que los flujos de migración imponen en la formulación de políticas dirigidas a acoger la acumulación de capital humano en regiones periféricas. Empleamos un único conjunto de datos generado a través de un muestreo postal diseñado y llevado a cabo por los autores. El punto focal de nuestro análisis es en las decisiones de ubicación a micro-nivel de una muestra de individuos altamente educados y capacitados residentes en la Basilicata, una región del Mezzogiorno italiano, que se han beneficiado de una política de inversión en capital humano financiada localmente. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research note extends Bond and Chen's analysis of illegal migration by assuming that the source country is a developing country in which there is a minimum wage policy. We examine how the minimum wage of the source country and enforcement by the host affect factor prices, migration, unemployment and economic welfare. We find that the enforcement effect is clear and intuitive, but the qualitative effect of the minimum wage depends on the wage elasticity of employment in the source country. Este artículo examina las causas de perturbaciones en las variaciones a corto y largo plazo en el output de las regiones en Francia. Utilizamos un modelo de componente de errores que descompone movimientos de output descentralizados en efectos comunes nacionales, específicos por industria, específicos por regiones, e idiosincrásicos. Encontramos que las perturbaciones específicas por industria explican la mayor parte de la varianza del componente sistemático de fluctuaciones de output descentralizadas. Más aun, las estrategias de políticas regionales descentralizadas que no se dirigen a sectores específicos en la región solo tienen un impacto muy limitado en las variaciones a corto y largo plazo en outputs sectoriales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

) measure of repeat migration can be used to infer the effects of repeat migration with data sets that did not specifically ask questions about such migration. While recent work by ) evaluated how well this synthetic measure matched empirical fixed-interval measures, the role of spatial scale remains unclear, particularly since scale influences migration levels, spatial structure, and the representation of the primary, return, and onward migration components within the overall flow. Motivated by the implementation of the American Community Survey and the concurrent need to adjust data from one to five-year formats, and using the 1996 Canadian Public Use Microdata File and a custom tabulation from the 1996 Canadian census, the accuracy of the index is evaluated. In particular, the effects of spatial scale upon measures of primary, return and onward migration are described and evaluated, with the Long-Boertlein measure contrasted with fixed-interval measures of return and onward migration. Results show that the measure is sensitive to spatial scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we survey common themes in recent migration research and comment on the actual and potential contribution of regional science to this literature. There has been a marked shift in research from internal to international migration. The two research programmes would benefit from a unified framework. Spatial and systemic features of migration systems remain underdeveloped. Moreover, the perspectives from the different disciplines that intersect in regional science can still be integrated better. Communication of the research findings in terms understood by policymakers and practitioners is also desirable. Finally, many new and interesting research topics will emerge when greater effort is made to link migration research with other current research topics in regional science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The age structure of a population is a fundamental concept in demography and is generally depicted in the form of an age pyramid. The spatial structure of an interregional system of origin-destination-specific migration streams is, however, a notion lacking a widely accepted definition. We offer a definition in this article, one that draws on the log-linear specification of the geographer's spatial interaction model. We illustrate our definition with observed migration data, we discuss extensions and special cases, and proceed to contrast our definition and associated empirical findings against another measure having an alternative definition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reviews the book "Interregional Migration and Public Policy in Canada" by Kathleen M. Day and Stanley L. Winer.