Monthly Archives: February 2016

Institutions and Emigration from Developing Countries

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One of the issues raised by the current refugee and migration crisis in Europe concerns the question of why people take the decision to emigrate.  An emerging literature focuses specifically on institutional factors.  One strand examines the informal institutions of migration networks.  It attempts to evaluate how the strength of a social network in the receiving country, combined with the skill level of the potential migrant, influences her decision on emigration.  An interesting empirical result is that strong social networks tend to matter for low skilled emigration but not for that of the highly skilled.

Another strand of the literature examines how wealth and credit constraints influence decisions to emigrate.  The intuition is that although an increase in wealth may increase the migration possibilities of asset constrained individuals, it may simultaneously reduce the incentive to emigrate by increasing the opportunity cost of working abroad.  A natural empirical prediction from this reasoning is that since poverty is inversely correlated with skills, financial constraints are likely to prevent some low-skilled individuals from migrating.  A finding from this literature is that relaxing these constraints for some low-skilled individuals has increased their rate of emigration.

Although social networks, income distribution and credit constraints are good starting points to  understand the factors that motivate people to emigrate, other questions related to how the institutional settings of source countries influence the decision on migration also remain open.  One empirical study examines worker satisfaction with institutions that determine the provision of public services, security, or governance.  But a theory that provides a mechanism relating these types of institutions in source countries to emigration has yet to be developed.

Angelucci, M. (2015) “Migration and financial constraints: Evidence from Mexico.” Review of Economics and Statistics, 97(1): 224-228. [Working paper version]

Borjas, G. (1987) “Self-Selection and the Earnings of Immigrants.” American Economic Review, 77(4): 531–553. [Working paper version]

Borjas G. (1994) “The economics of immigration”.  Journal of Economic Literature, 32: 1667-1717

Chiquiar, D. and G. Hanson (2005) “International Migration, Self-Selection, and the Distribution of Wages: Evidence from Mexico and the United States.” Journal of Political Economy 113(2): 239-281.

Djajica, S., M. G. Kirdarb and A. Vinogradovac (2016) “Source-country earnings and emigration”. Journal of International Economics, 99:46-67. [Working paper version]

Dustmann, C. and A. Okatenko (2014) “Out-migration, wealth constraints, and the quality of local amenities.” Journal of Development Economics, 110: 52–63. [Working paper version]

Görlach, J. S. (2016) “Borrowing Constraints, Migrant Selection, and the Dynamics of Return and Repeat Migration.” Working Paper.

McKenzie, D. and H. Rapoport (2010) “Self-Selection Patterns in Mexico-US Migration: The Role of Migration Networks.” Review of Economics and Statistics, 92(4):811–821.

New Working Papers February 2016

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The following working papers have recently been added to our working papers page.

Cunha, Alexandre and Emanuel Ornelas (2015) “The Limits of Political Compromise: Debt Ceilings and Political Competition.”

Dix-Carneiro, Rafael, Rodrigo R. Soares and Gabriel Ulyssea (2016) “Local Labor Market Conditions and Crime: Evidence from the Brazilian Trade Liberalization.”

Monarch, Ryan and Tim Schmidt-Eisenlohr (2016) “Learning and the Value of Relationships in International Trade.”

 

Arnoldshain Seminar XIV “Institutions, Trade, and Economic Policy”

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October 3 – 6, 2016
Córdoba and La Cumbre

OVERVIEW
The 14th edition of this conference series, will be organized by the National University of Córdoba, Argentina, and will bring together researchers interested in the following subjects:
– International Migration and Local Development.
– The Economic Influence of Digitalization.
– Integration, Trade and Capital Flows.
– Income Distribution and Inequality.
– Natural Resource Management and Sustainable Development.
– Economic Growth and the Impact of Shocks.
– International Production Networks.
– Transport and Logistics in International Trade.
– Education.
– Monetary Economics.
– Comparative Research related to EU and Mercosur and others.
– Institutions and Economics.
– Other Development-related Topics.

Previous seminars (cf. the history at http://www.isces.net) have attracted speakers from different countries. We welcome academics, policy-makers, and – in particular – young researchers.

SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE
– Basilia Aguirre, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
– José Luis Arrufat, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina
– María Cecilia Gáname, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina
– Florencia Granato, Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto, Argentina
– Roland Eisen, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, Germany
– Stephan Klasen, CRC, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany
– Laura Márquez Ramos, Universitat Jaume I, Spain
– Inmaculada Martínez-Zarzoso, Institute of International Economics, Universitat Jaume I, Spain and Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany
– Adriana Peluffo, Universidad de la República, Uruguay
– Celestino Suárez Burguet, Institute of International Economics, Universitat Jaume I, Spain

SUBMISSION PROCEDURE
Submissions (extended abstracts up to 1.500 words or full papers) should be in English and include title, keywords, JEL classification, author(s)’ full name(s), affiliation, address, email, fax and phone of the (responsible) author. Several papers may be submitted. Submissions (in pdf file format only) must be made by email only to  and via our website http://www.isces.net.
Please, submit your abstract or paper both via email and via the website!

DEADLINES
Submission of papers or extended abstracts: MAY 23, 2016
Notification of acceptance: JULY 6, 2016
Registration (with abstract): AUGUST 1, 2016
Submission of final papers: SEPTEMBER 12, 2016

The organizers will invite participating authors to be discussants of a paper.

ACCOMMODATION EXPENSES

The organizers will cover accommodation expenses for foreign participants, and upon availability of funding also for national participants. Some meals will be also covered.

CONTACT
Local and foreign organizers:
– Sergio Víctor Barone, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba
– Daniela Cristina, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba
– Ricardo Luis Descalzi, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba
– Alberto M. Díaz Cafferata, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba
– Alexander Elsas, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, Germany and ISCES
– María Cecilia Gáname, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba
– Pedro Esteban Moncarz, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba
– Ángel Enrique Neder, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba
– Carola Wondrak, ISCES

Please address all contacts with the organizers via  

We hope to welcome you in Córdoba, Argentina in October 2016!

URL for Further Information: ISCES

International Conference of Political Economy 2016: Call for Papers

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ICOPEC 2016 is organized by Batman University Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences and Marmara University Faculty of Economics with the cooperation of University of Westminster (UK), Institute for Economic & Social Research of Piedmont (IRES, Italy), Ostrava Technical University (Czech Republic) and Pontifica Catholic University of Lima [Peru].

The main theme of 7th conference is defined as “State, Economic Policy, Taxation, & Development”.  However, ICOPEC 2016 will attempt to explain and account for all political economy’s subtopics and different aspects associated with political economy.

7. ICOPEC 2016 will be held in Istanbul on June 28-30, 2016.

Deadline for paper submissions: May 1, 2016
Deadline for participant registration: Wednesday, May 25, 2016
URL for Further Information: ICOPEC 2016

8th Transatlantic Workshop on the Economics of Crime

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It will be held at Långholmen, Stockholm (an old Swedish prison but now a modern-day conference center) from September 30 to October 1, 2016.

We aim to bring together researchers from both sides of the Atlantic to present and discuss their work, allowing for an in-depth interaction between those working on the empirical and theoretical analysis of crime and illegal behaviour.

The workshop will consist of two keynote lectures – to be given by Steven Raphael (UC Berkeley) and Gordon Dahl (UC San Diego) – and 10 to 12 contributed papers. This year there will be a special session on Labour Economics and Crime. We encourage submissions focusing on the impact that criminal behaviour and involvement with the criminal justice system may have on labour market inputs and outcomes. Topics may include (but are not limited to): education, skills, discrimination, labour supply and demand, labour mobility (including migration), (un)employment, wages, welfare, workfare, and active labour market policies.

Other suggested topics covered include, but are not limited to, the following:
• Social prevention of crime and violence
• Evaluation of police crime reduction strategies
• Reinsertion and rehabilitation interventions
• Guns (and related policies) and crime
• Social interactions, networks, and crime
• Biases in the criminal justice system
• Economic crises, poverty, inequality and crime

The workshop is organized by the Department of Economics, University of Gothenburg and Swedish Institute for Social Research (SOFI), Stockholm University. We invite researchers to submit a paper (in PDF) by sending an e-mail to Randi Hjalmarsson (). The submission deadline is May 1st, 2016.

Authors of accepted papers will be notified by June 17th 2016. We will provide accommodation and reimburse economy travel costs for paper presenters.

The 2016 Organizing committee is: Randi Hjalmarsson (University of Gothenburg); Matthew Lindquist (Stockholm University); Olivier Marie (University of Maastricht); Emily Owens (University of Pennsylvania); Paolo Pinotti (Bocconi University).

Workshop: Trade and Health: Empirical approaches and policy implications

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We are soliciting papers for the workshop “Trade and Health: Empirical approaches and policy implications“. The workshop is part of the “Trade and Health” project funded by the John Fell Fund.

We invite submissions in any area of empirical health economics and trade, but preferences will be given to papers analyzing the relationship between trade and health. The workshop also aims to foster new connections among scholars with common interests in these areas. The workshop will consist in a small number of hour-long research presentations. We will allocate a discussant to each paper.

Keynote lectures will be given by Jay Bhattacharya (Stanford) and Alan Winters (University of Sussex).

There are no fees. Participants are responsible for their travel and accommodation expenses.

If you are interested in presenting a paper at the meeting, please send a draft of your paper to  by March 12, 2016. Decisions will be made by March 26, 2016. The detailed programme will be announced byApril 10, 2016.

7th Annual Conference of the Trade, Integration, and Growth Network (TIGN) Sao Paulo, Brazil, May 24-25, 2016

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The 7th Annual Conference of the Trade, Integration and Growth Network (TIGN) will be held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on May 24-25, 2016. This conference is sponsored by the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association (LACEA), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the CAF-Development Bank of Latin America (CAF), and Sao Paulo School of Economics – FGV and is organized by Sao Paulo School of Economics – FGV. The TIGN conference is a unique event that brings together top researchers and policymakers to discuss recent theoretical and empirical advances in trade and integration and growth broadly defined.

The deadline for submissions is February 29, 2016.

Conference website

RCUK-FAPESP bilateral agreement

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Research Councils UK (RCUK) and the State of São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) have agreed a pioneering Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to welcome, encourage and support applications that may cut across their national boundaries and involve international collaborative teams.

The RCUK-FAPESP Memorandum of Understanding (RCUK website) provides for a ‘Lead Agency Agreement’ whereby the relevant UK Research Council will receive and assess collaborative proposals from eligible institutions on behalf of both organisations. However, FAPESP nominated experts will be involved with the peer review and decision making processes throughout.

Funder’s website