Seminars

Paris Migration Economics Seminar

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Upcoming events

• Monday 23 September 2024 12:30-13:30

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  DESMET Klaus (Southern Methodist University) : On the Geographic Implications of Carbon Taxes

  Bruno Conte ( Universita di Bologna) and Esteban Rossi-Hansberg (SMU)

  Abstract

  Using a multisector dynamic spatial integrated assessment model (S-IAM), we argue that a carbon tax introduced by the European Union (EU) and rebated locally can, if not too large, increase the size of Europe’s economy by concentrating economic activity in its high-productivity non-agricultural core and by incentivizing immigration to the EU. The resulting change in the spatial distribution of economic activity improves global efficiency and welfare. A carbon tax introduced by the US generates similar effects. This stands in sharp contrast with standard models that ignore trade and migration in a world shaped by economic geography forces.

• Monday 7 October 2024 12:30-13:30

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  GOVIND Yajna (Copenhagen Business School) : *

• Monday 14 October 2024 12:30-13:30

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  SEQUEIRA Sandra (LSE) : *

• Monday 21 October 2024 12:30-13:30

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  SCHNEIDER Sarah (Exeter) : *

Archives

• Monday 27 May 2024 12:30-13:30

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  The next session of the CLIMIG seminar series is co-organized with PSE's Paris Migration Economics Seminar and will be held on Monday, May 27 at the Paris School of Economics.

  Abstract

  This session will welcome Sofia Meister (EHESS et Fellow IC Migrations) and Ilse Ruyssen (Ghent University) around the topic Disentangling the climate-migration-health nexus.

• Monday 13 May 2024 12:30-13:30

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  RUYSSEN Ilse (Ghent University) : Irrigation as mitigator for migratory aspirations following drought

  Alix Debray, Lucile Dehouck, Katrin Millock

  Abstract

  This article aims to contribute to the ongoing debate on the causal relationship between climate and migration, which has remained inconclusive and often fails to consider alternative adaptive mechanisms. Specifically, we investigate the effect of drought on aspirations to migrate in and out of 11 West African countries, controlling for irrigation. Our analysis uses cross-country comparable Gallup World Poll surveys combined with fine-grained geo-local information on irrigation coverage as well as drought occurrence and intensity. Our preliminary findings confirm the potential of irrigation to diminish the negative effect of drought on migration aspirations. However, further robustness checks and estimations on different samples will allow determining whether this correlation would encourage individuals to continue investing in their local communities or rather enable them to fulfil their migration aspirations. Overall, the article highlights the potential of alternative adaptation mechanisms in shaping migration patterns and emphasizes the need for a more nuanced understanding of the climate-migration nexus

• Monday 6 May 2024 12:30-13:30

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  EMERIAU Mathilde (SciencesPo) : In or Out? Xenophobic Violence and Immigrant Integration. Evidence from 19th century France

  Stephane Wolton

  Abstract

  How do foreigners respond to xenophobic violence? We study Italian immigrants' response to anti-Italian violence triggered by the assassination of the French president by an Italian anarchist in June 1894. Using French nominative census records from 1881, 1886, 1891 and 1896 and official naturalization decrees published between 1887 to 1898, we study the decision of Italian immigrants to either leave their local communities or apply for naturalization using a difference-in-differences design, comparing the change in exit and naturalization application rate of Italians before and after the assassination to that of other foreigners in the same period. We document how xenophobic violence triggered an increase in both exits and naturalization applications, with greater violence or threat thereof associated with more exits. We also find that well-integrated Italians, as proxied by intermarriage, occupation, and position in the household, are more likely to naturalize and less likely to exit than less integrated ones and less integrated ones are more likely to exit. We present a stylized model of immigrants' choices to make sense of these findings.

• Monday 15 April 2024 12:30-13:30

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  TURATI Riccardo (Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona) : Immigration and Cultural Heterogeneity: Evidence from two Decades in Europe

  Y. Elkhateeb and J. Valette

  Abstract

  This paper investigates the impact of immigration on cultural heterogeneity in Europe from 2004 to 2018 at the regional level. It combines European Social Survey data, to measure cultural heterogeneity across several cultural traits, with immigrant data from the European Labor Force Survey. Our findings show that overall cultural heterogeneity is negatively influenced by inflows of immigrants. The results indicate that while low-skilled and non-European immigrants increase cultural heterogeneity by introducing new values in destination countries, this effect fades rapidly with assimilation. It is also outweighed by a stronger cultural reaction of natives to the higher share of high-skilled immigrants within Europe that correlates with reduced cultural fractionalization among natives. By emphasizing birthplace as a relevant cleavage in studying cultural divisions, our study provides insights into how immigration can shape the distribution of cultural values in modern societies.

• Monday 18 March 2024 12:30-13:30

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  D AMELIO Tommaso (Université Libre de Bruxelles) : Inheritance and Migration: Evidence from 19th Century Italy

  GOBBI Paula (Université Libre de Bruxelles)

  Abstract

  In the nineteenth and at the beginning of the twentieth century, Italy experienced extensive emigration flows that have been affecting the life and the economy of the country until today. In this paper we show that inheritance rules affected decisions regarding migration at the time. We exploit the quasi natural experiment provided by the Napoleonic invasion and the consequent introduction of the Code Civil, and the variability across the peninsula, to perform a difference-in-differences analysis. To do so, we build three novel datasets: one on the use of impartible inheritance at pre-unitary state level, one on inheritance practices among noble families from testaments, and one on migration before the unification of Italy, obtained through genealogical data. At the state level, we find that the change from impartible to partible inheritance led to an increase in the probability of migrating between 5 and 15%. At the family level, we perform a triple difference estimation based on the information on the inheritance practices of the nobility. For noble families, turning to partible inheritance increased the probability of migrating out of Italy by 20%.

• Monday 4 March 2024 12:30-13:30

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  BRISELLI Giulia (ESCP) : One bed, two dreams: Female migration, conservative norms and foreign brides in South Korea

  Abstract

  Migration affects a country’s social and demographic outcomes, such as marriage and fertility. However, the effects of internal migration on family formation are still not well documented. In this paper, I study how internal migration affects the marriage market and fertility rates. In particular, I use the setting of South Korea to analyze how female internal mobility affects the demand for marriages between local men and immigrant brides. I then investigate the implications of both female internal mobility and foreign brides for fertility rates. To obtain causal identification, I estimate these effects using a two-way fixed effect model and an enclave instrument based on past internal migration. I find that an increase in out-migration of local women raises the demand for immigrant brides, particularly in rural areas. I also find a negative effect of female out-migration on fertility, which is partially offset by the arrival of foreign brides. Further, I demonstrate that the gap in gender attitudes between younger generations of Korean men and women in part explains both female internal mobility and the demand for foreign brides. I empirically show that the "import" of brides from different countries is the response to a marriage squeeze brought by female internal migration.

• Monday 26 February 2024 12:30-13:30

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  AGER Philipp (Mannheim University) : Gender-biased technological change: Milking machines and the exodus of women from farming

  Abstract

  This paper studies the link between gender-biased technological change in the agricultural sector and structural transformation in Norway. After WWII, Norwegian farms began widely adopting milking machines to replace the hand milking of cows, a task typically performed by women. Combining population-wide panel data from the Norwegian registry with municipality-level data from the Census of Agriculture, we show that the adoption of milking machines triggered a process of structural transformation by displacing young rural women from their traditional jobs on farms in dairy-intensive municipalities. The displaced women moved to urban areas where they acquired a higher level of education and found better-paid employment. These findings are consistent with the predictions of a Roy model of comparative advantage, extended to account for task automation and the gender division of labor in the agricultural sector. We also quantify significant inter-generational effects of this gender-biased technology adoption. Our results imply that the mechanization of farming has broken deeply rooted gender norms, transformed women’s work, and improved their long-term educational and earning opportunities, relative to men.

• Monday 12 February 2024 12:30-13:30

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  VIARENGO Martina (Geneva Graduate Institute) : Labor Market Integration, Local Conditions and Inequalities: Evidence from Refugees in Switzerland

  Joint with Tobias Müller (UNIGE) and Pia Pannatier (UNIGE)

  Abstract

  The paper examines the patterns of economic integration of refugees in Switzerland, a country with a long tradition of hosting refugees, a top-receiving host in Europe, and a prominent example of a multicultural society. It relies on a unique longitudinal dataset consisting of administrative records and social security data for the universe of refugees in Switzerland over 1998–2018. This data is used to reconstruct the individual-level trajectories of refugees and to follow them since arrival over the life-cycle. The empirical analysis exploits the government dispersal policy in place since 1998, which consists of the random allocation of refugees across cantons, to identify the causal effects of the local initial conditions. The study finds that higher unemployment rates at arrival slow down the integration process, whereas the existence of a co-ethnic network does not consistently lead to a faster integration. It is shown that a change toward more restrictive attitudes over time in a canton (relative to attitudes in other cantons) leads to higher employment rates of the successive refugee cohorts. These effects persist over the refugees’ life-cycle. Together these results, highlight the importance of taking a longer run perspective when examining the effectiveness of policies, as the effects may vary over time and different complementary interventions may be needed in the short vs. long-run.

• Thursday 25 January 2024

  ICM-PSE Workshop (Collège de France Ulm)

  Abstract

  Keynote: Toman Barsbai (Bristol University), "Humans as animals: The natural geography of economic behavior" (with A. Pondorfer ) Lucile Dehouck (PSE), "Thirsting for Solutions: the Impact of Water Scarcity on Migration in Ethiopia" Clément Imbert (Sciences Po), "Floating population: migration with(out) family andthe spatial distribution of economic activity" (avec J. Monras, M. Seror, Y. Zylberberg) Antony Edo (CEPII), "Monopsony, Efficiency, and the Regularization of Undocumented Immigrants" (avec G. Borjas)

• Tuesday 12 December 2023

  Immigration in OECD Countries - 13th Annual International Conference (at OECD)

  Full text [pdf]

• Monday 11 December 2023

  Immigration in OECD Countries - 13th Annual International Conference (at OECD)

  Abstract

  http://www.cepii.fr/CEPII/fr/evenements/abstract.asp?IDReu=659

  Full text [pdf]

• Monday 4 December 2023 12:30-13:30

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  ROSSI Pauline (Ecole Polytechnique - CREST) : Long-run Impacts of Forced Labor Migration on Fertility Behaviors: Evidence from Colonial West Africa

  DUPAS Pascaline

  FALEZAN Camille

  MABEU Marie Christelle

  Abstract

  Is the persistently high fertility in West Africa today rooted in the decades of forced labor migration under colonial rule? We study the case of Burkina Faso, considered the largest labor reservoir in West Africa by the French colonial authorities. Hundreds of thousands of young men were forcibly recruited and sent to work in neighboring colonies for one or two years. The practice started in the late 1910s and lasted until the late 1940s, when forced labor was replaced with voluntary wage employment. We digitize historical maps, combine data from multiple surveys, and exploit the historical, temporary partition of colonial Burkina Faso (and, more specifically, the historical land of the Mossi ethnic group) into three zones with different needs for labor to implement a spatial regression discontinuity design analysis. We find that, on the side of the border where Mossi villages were more exposed to forced labor historically, there is more temporary male migration to Cote d’Ivoire up to today, and lower realized and desired fertility today. We show evidence suggesting that the inherited pattern of low-skill circular migration for adult men reduced the reliance on subsistence farming and the accompanying need for child labor. We can rule out women’s empowerment or improvements in human and physical capital as pathways for the fertility decline. These findings contribute to the debate on the origins of family institutions and preferences, often mentioned to explain West Africa’s exceptional fertility trends, showing that decisions on family formation can change if modes of production change.

• Monday 20 November 2023 12:30-13:30

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  GIRAY AKSOY CEVAT ((EBRD & Kings College London)) : *Corruption Exposure, Political Trust, and Immigrants

  Abstract

  Using large-scale survey data covering 38 countries and exploiting origin-country variation across cohorts and surveys, we show that immigrants exposed to institutional corruption before migrating exhibit higher levels of political trust in their new country. Higher trust is observed for national political institutions only and does not carry over to other supra-national institutions and individuals. We report evidence that higher levels of political trust among immigrants persist, leading to greater electoral participation and political engagement in the long run. The impact of home-country corruption on political trust in the destination country is further amplified by large differences in income and democracy levels between the two countries. However, the effect is lessened by exposure to media providing independent information about institutional performance in the destination country. Finally, our extensive analyses indicate that self-selection into host countries based on trust is highly unlikely and the results also hold when focusing only on forced migrants who were unlikely to have been subject to selection.

• Monday 6 November 2023 12:30-13:30

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  IMBERT Clément (SciencesPo) : Deforestation and Structural Change in Sub-Saharan Africa

  Abstract

  This paper studies how structural transformation affects deforestation in Sub-Saharan Africa. We first develop a two-sector spatial-equilibrium model with migration and trade. We show that the growth of the non-agricultural sector has ambiguous effects on forest cover: while rural-urban migration can reduce deforestation, rural-urban trade may increase it. We then use region-level data from the 2000s in 17 Sub-Saharan African countries and build two different shift-share instruments to provide evidence of these two mechanisms. We then quantify our model and show that overall the net effect is negative, i.e. that structural transformation reduces deforestation.

• Monday 9 October 2023 12:30-13:30

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  YARKIN Alexander (Brown University and LISER) : Learning from the Origins

  Abstract

  How do political preferences and voting behaviors respond to information coming from abroad? Focusing on the international migration network, I document that opinion changes at the origins spill over to 1st- and 2nd-generation immigrants abroad. Local diasporas, social media, and family ties to the origins facilitate the transmission, while social integration at destination weakens it. Using the variation in the magnitude, timing, and type of origin-country exposure to the European Refugee Crisis of 2015, I show that salient events trigger learning from the origins. Welcoming asylum policies at the origins decrease opposition to non-Europeans and far-right voting abroad. Transitory refugee flows through the origins send abroad the backlash. Data from Google Trends and Facebook suggests elevated attention to events at the origins and communication with like-minded groups as mechanisms. Similar spillovers following the passage of same-sex marriage laws show the phenomenon generalizes beyond refugee attitudes.

• Monday 18 September 2023 12:30-13:30

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  MASTROBUONI Giovanni (Collegio Carlo Alberto) : Once Upon a Time in America: the Mafia and the Unions

  Andrea Matranga (University of Torino) and Marta Troya-Martinez (New Economic School and CEPR

  Abstract

  With the emergence of the Italian-American mafia, which we show was driven by labor unrest and a demand for protection, as well as immigration from Italy, labor racketeering became one of the most profitable criminal activities. The Mafia infiltrated several labor unions, controlling labor and restricting competition. We identify places and industries that were more likely to be infiltrated, and show that in such places individuals of Italian origin climbed up to leadership positions. In response to the likely support of workers of Italian origin, these workers started earning significantly more than other European immigrants. This suggest that the Mafia was not only using violence to control labor but was paying them rents too. In their fight against organized crime, the US passed the 1970 Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. We show that RICO cases, which most likely broke many cartels that were kept in place by the threat of violence, led to subsequent growth in employment, in the number of establishments and even in overall wages. The effects were larger in construction, an industry traditionally prone to mafia influence

• Monday 12 June 2023 12:30-13:30

  Salle R2.20, campus jourdan

  ZENOU Yves (Monash University) : Ethnic Mixing in Early Childhood: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment and a Structural Model

  Abstract

  We study the social integration of ethnic minority children in the context of an early childhood program conducted in Turkey aimed at preparing 5-year-old native and Syrian refugee children for primary school. We randomly assign children to groups with varying ethnic composition and find that exposure to children of the other ethnicity leads to an increase in the formation of interethnic friendships. We also find that the Turkish language skills of Syrian children are better developed in classes with a larger presence of Turkish children and that these positive effects persist into primary school. We then develop a model of language acquisition and friendship formation, with language skills acting as a key input in the formation of interethnic friendships. Structural estimation of the model suggests that interethnic exposure reduces the share of own-ethnicity friends (homophily) and has a non-monotonic effect on the propensity to form own-ethnicity friendships beyond what would be expected given the size of the group (inbreeding homophily). Counterfactual analysis indicates that the language skills of Syrian children are as important as ethnic bias for the integration of Syrian children.

• Monday 15 May 2023 12:30-13:30

  Salle R1.14, Campus Jourdan

  FELFE Christina (U. Würzburg) : On the formation of ingroup bias: The role of ethnic diversity and cultural distance

• Monday 17 April 2023 15:00-18:30

  site Ulm du Collège de France

  Workshop joint avec l'Institut Convergences Migrations

  Abstract

  Tom Raster (PSE) Liam Wren-Lewis (PSE) Mathilde Emeriau (LSE)

• Monday 3 April 2023 12:30-13:30

  Salle R1.14, Campus Jourdan

  FRATTINI Tommaso (U.Milano) : From Refugees to Citizens: Returns to Naturalization and Labour Market Outcomes

  Abstract

  Refugees typically display weaker socio-economic status, lower well-being and a more fragile integration in host country than comparable immigrants. In contrast with this widespread disadvantage, we document that refugees hold the lead among foreign-born citizens in naturalization rates, largely because of the more favourable naturalization requirements that they typically face. We then analyze the labour market returns to naturalization of refugees and other migrants across European countries. We propose an instrumental variable strategy based on differences in eligibility rules across countries, cohorts, and immigrant status to deal with endogenous selection into naturalization. Our estimates point at large returns from citizenship for refugees: naturalized refugees completely fill the gap with comparable migrants in employment and participation. Positive returns on job quality are observed for other migrants

• Monday 20 March 2023 12:30-13:30

  Salle R1.14, Campus Jourdan

  DÉMURGER Sylvie (IAO Lyon/ CNRS) : Migration and financial inclusion - Evidence from rural Chinese households

  Anna Jolivet (U. of Namur)

  Abstract

  This paper assesses the effect of rural-to-urban migration on sending households' financial practices and investigates the various mechanisms possibly driving this effect. China is an attractive case for this study as it combines massive internal migration flows with dramatic changes in financial services over the past 20 years. Using household-level data from rural China in 2018 and applying an instrumental variable approach, we show that the use of financial services by left-behind families is altered by migration. We specifically explore the access to formal savings, the use of digital payments and the types of debts that households take on. We further disaggregate our analysis to investigate any differential impact of migration across various types of households. As far as the mechanisms at stake are concerned, we examine the income effect of remittances on financial practices, as well as changes that may be driven by a transfer of practices and knowledge and/or by a shift in the decision-making power within the household

• Monday 13 March 2023 12:30-13:30

  Salle R1.14, Campus Jourdan

  GIUNTELLA Osea (U. Pittsburgh) : Ethnic churches, enclave neighborhoods and immigrant assimilation during the Age of Mass Migration

  Ran Abramitsky et Leah Boustan

  Abstract

  From 1850 to 1913, more than 30 million European immigrants moved to US. Many immigrants lived in segregated enclaves. Did living in immigrant enclaves slow economic and cultural assimilation? To examine this question, we explore variation in the building of ethnic Catholic churches across otherwise similar neighborhoods. We collect data on the universe of Catholic churches in 4 large cities–Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York. We merge with complete-count Census records for detailed information on local residents (1900-1930) and compare residents before and after a new church is constructed to similar neighborhoods using an event-study and a matched difference-in-differences approach. We find that the construction of a new Polish church anchors Polish residents to the neighborhood, slows their cultural assimilation, and reduces their economic assimilation. As a natural placebo, we show that the effects of a construction of a Polish church are not-significant when restricting the analysis to Polish Jews. We instead find little evidence of significant effects among Italians.

• Monday 13 February 2023 12:30-13:30

  Salle R1.14, Campus Jourdan

  SIGNORELLI Sara (University of Amsterdam) : Talent Flows and the Geography of Knowledge Production: Causal Evidence from Multinational Firms

  with D. Bahar, P. Choudhury, J. Sappenfield

  Abstract

  We investigate how reforms that ease or restrict inventor mobility affect both local and global innovation patterns. Leveraging a unique dataset that merges patent data with exhaustive information on work-related migration reforms that took place in 15 countries over 26 years, we employ a novel event-study approach. Our results show that reforms discouraging inventor mobility decrease the patenting of MNE subsidiaries within a country, while reforms encouraging it have a positive but much smaller effect. Building on the global nature of our exercise, we show that positive (negative) reforms adopted in the U.S. shifted innovation away from (toward) other countries, highlighting the existence of a global competition for talent. Finally, we provide evidence that policies easing migration have facilitated about half of the shift in the global share of innovation toward emerging markets.

• Monday 30 January 2023 12:30-13:30

  Salle R1.09, Campus Jourdan

  MENDOLA Mariapia (Université de Milan-Bicocca) : The Political Backlash to Refugee Settlement: Cultural and Economic Drivers

  with Francesco Campo, Sara Giunti and Giulia Tura

• Monday 5 December 2022 12:30-13:30

  Salle R2.01, Campus Jourdan

  DE LA CROIX David (UC Louvain) : Winners and Losers from the Protestant Reformation: An Analysis of the Network of European Universities

  P. Morault

  Full text [pdf]

• Monday 21 November 2022 10:30-14:30

  Salle R2.01, Campus Jourdan

  CINQUE Andrea (CES) : Joint seminar with IC Migrations

  GONNOT Jérôme (CEPII)

  LISSONI Francesco (Université de Bordeaux)

  ZAPPALÀ Guglielmo (PSE)

• Monday 17 October 2022 12:30-13:30

  Salle R1.15, Campus Jourdan

  STUHLER Jan (U. Carlos III de Madrid) : Immigration and Monopsony: Evidence Across the Distribution of Firms

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  MEISTER Lorenz : Disentangling the climate-migration-health nexus

  RUYSSEN Ilse (Ghent University)

  Abstract

  The next session of the CLIMIG seminar series is co-organized with PSE's Paris Migration Economics Seminar and will be held on Monday, May 27 at the Paris School of Economics

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  Collège de France Ulm

  ICM-PSE Workshop

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  AGER Philipp (Mannheim University) : *