Lecture 1

Question 1

‘Stillman et al., (2015)’

Answer 1

Looking at the mental health of migration of Tongan migrants moving to New Zealand through a natural experiment of the PAC lottery, where only a small percentage of hopefully migrants got to migrate. New Zealand IpC x5 larger than New Zealand, and Tongan migrants absolute incomes increased but aspirations of income grew faster. Found mental health improved but happiness declined

Question 2

‘Bartram et al, (2011)’

Answer 2

Migrants absolute income rises but their relative position in the country drops as the reference group has changed to a richer demographic

Question 3

‘Knight and Gunatilakam, (2012)’

Answer 3

Migrants aspirations rise faster than their income which leads to frustration and unhappiness

Question 4

‘Ravenstein, (1885)’

Answer 4

Looking at internal migration in the UK in the 19th century using a gravity equation showed migrants only travelled short distances and drawn to great centres of commerce

Question 5

‘Lewer and Van den Berg, (2008)’

Answer 5

Gravity model for 16 OCED destinations between 1991-2000. Consider the joint population of source & host nation on the migration flow found migrant networks have a significant impact on migration flows leading to “chain migration”

Question 6

‘Clemens, (2011)’

Answer 6

When emigration to high income countries becomes a possibility it increases the value of human capital even if individuals don’t decide to migrate. Found a 10% reduction in barriers to migration increases wages of non-emigrants by 3-4% and a 2.5% decline in host nation wages. Complete elimination of labour mobility barriers would see gains of 50-150% of world GDP.