This research studies the relationship between migration and different factors that affect an individual’s labor market participation. I focus on the effect of migration on risk preferences, fertility outcomes, and intergenerational transmission of education. The theoretical foundation is the utility maximization problem, where an agent maximizes constrained utility. I use reduced form analysis and secondary survey data that includes information about migration trips, migrant and non-migrant characteristics, and where applicable, location of the individual and location characteristics. The first chapter examines the relationship between childhood migration and the fertility decisions of adult women. The objective is to test whether migration before the age of twelve has a causal effect on the total number of children and the age at first pregnancy. In this analysis, I use a longitudinal dataset from Mexico, the Mexican Family Life Survey (MxFLS). The identification strategy is based on the time-gap between events, the richness of variables on the dataset, and different estimation methods. First, the parents are the ones deciding to migrate, not the individual; and there are at least three years between the migration trip and the fertility outcomes. Second, I also control for individual and parents’ characteristics, and other fixed effects such as cohort, year, and location characteristics to account for endogeneity. The second chapter tests whether migration changes risk preferences. It also uses the Mexican Family Life Survey but uses a different definition for migration, adult migration. I analyze changes in risk preferences from migration by comparing measurements of risk for migrants and non-migrants at two different points in time. The identification strategy is based on a reduced-form analysis and the exploitation of the survey’s panel structure and representative design. To consider endogeneity, I use migration networks as an instrumental variable for migration. This migration network variable is built with the first survey round, which is representative of the country. The panel structure allows testing for changes in the variable of interest; similar to a difference in differences approach. The final chapter examines the transmission of education across generations for legal immigrants in the United States; it analyzes how educational outcomes of individuals compare to their immigrant parents. The underlying rationale is that if a person achieves higher education than his/her parents, then s/he “moved up”. Empirical evidence shows that parents’ education is correlated with an individual’s education level. Evidence is mixed on whether it is a causal effect from education or other factors of the parents; previous results depend on the mother’s or father’s education, and level of education. This research adds to this literature, and the contribution lies in using legal immigrants as the focus population, it characterizes intergenerational mobility through three generations, and controls for country of origin or region of destination. I use the New Immigration Survey data and a static reduced-form model.

(cont.) Using data from the Occupation Information Network and the Census, I find that: (1) within a city, occupations that require fewer language skills have a higher ratio of low-skilled immigrants to natives, and (2) after an immigration shock, there is a disproportional reduction in the wages of natives that work in manual occupations.

This volume is devoted to three key themes central to studies in regional science: the sub-national labor market, migration, and mobility, and their analysis. The book brings together essays that cover a wide range of topics including the development of uncertainty in national and subnational population projections; the impacts of widening and deepening human capital; the relationship between migration, neighborhood change, and area-based urban policy; the facilitating role played by outmigration and remittances in economic transition; and the contrasting importance of quality of life and quality of business for domestic and international migrants. All of the contributions here are by leading figures in their fields and employ state-of-the art methodologies. Given the variety of topics and themes covered this book, it will appeal to a broad range of readers interested in both regional science and related disciplines such as demography, population economics, and public policy.