Economics of immigration and cultural diversity Flashcards
(34 cards)
How does the UN define a migrant?
Any person who lives temporarily or permanently in a country where they were not born.
What are common ways to define an immigrant?
By country of birth, nationality, length of stay (12+ months), or immigration control status.
How many international migrants were there globally (UN, 2015)?
281 million.
What percentage of the population in OECD countries are migrants?
10%.
What are key demographic traits of migrants?
Younger, working-age, slightly less than half are women, mostly from middle-income countries.
Where do most migrants live?
In a few countries—67% in just 20 countries (e.g., US, Germany, UK).
What events influenced East-West migration in Europe?
Fall of the Berlin Wall, Balkan wars, EU enlargement, and labour contracts (e.g., UK-Poland).
What is the skill distribution of immigrants in Europe (Münz, 2007)?
Immigrants have higher proportions of both high- and low-skilled workers; natives dominate medium-skilled roles.
What is the role of immigrants in productivity?
They contribute to labour supply, fill skill gaps, and support economic growth.
How does diversity affect innovation?
Diverse immigrant populations can enhance creativity and innovation.
What is the impact of high-skilled immigration?
It boosts innovation and productivity, especially in knowledge-intensive sectors.
What is a skills mismatch in immigration?
When immigrants’ qualifications or experience don’t align with labour market needs.
What are key takeaways about immigrants?
They cluster in urban areas, are younger, often higher-skilled (in Europe), and migrate from middle- to high-income countries.
What are the five key forces linking immigration to productivity and growth?
Population size effect
Population density effect
Migrant share effect
Skill composition effect
Migrant diversity effect
What did Ozgen et al. (2010) find about migration and regional wage disparities?
Migration may worsen disparities as skilled migrants leave deprived regions.
What shift occurred in 1990s growth theory?
People became central to production functions; worker characteristics like age and education matter.
What did Borjas (2000s) argue about migrant selection?
Migrants are not random; migration acts as a pre-arrival filter.
What did Jacobs (1961) say about urbanisation?
Diversity in cities fosters innovation through knowledge spillovers.
What did Romer and Lucas argue about knowledge?
Technology is endogenous; innovation depends on the number of idea-generating workers.
What did Colantone and Stanig (2016) find?
Positive economic views of immigrants reduce perceptions of them as burdens.
What are potential negative externalities of immigration?
Lower wages in immigrant-heavy workplaces, assimilation issues, and ethnic enclaves.
How do immigrants contribute to innovation?
Create demand and drive innovation (density effect)
Bring new knowledge (skill effect)
Enable skill complementarity (diversity effect)
What are the three branches of immigration and innovation studies?
Regional diversity and productivity
Foreign entrepreneurs/students/employees
Internationally mobile talent and knowledge inflows
What defines operational innovation?
Radically new firm operations, measurable, patentable, and economically valuable.
