This thesis deals with the economic analysis of population diversity, specifically diversity in terms of people's countries of origin. We propose an index of birth-place diversity for the work force of 195 countries in the years 1990 and 2000. We show that birthplace diversity is a new dimension of population diversity that is conceptually and empirically distinct from ethno-linguistic and genetic measures of diversity and, unlike these, is positively correlated with long-run economic output. This effect is larger for skilled immigrants in richer countries and robust in a SLS setting. We also find the productive effect of diversity to be larger for immigrants who are culturally close (but not too close) to natives and those who come from richer origin countries. We also investigate the link between birthplace diversity and attitudes to immigration. Using the World Values Survey with data for 72 countries, we find that skilled natives increase their support for immigration when diversity of skilled immigrants is high. results are robust to using the European Social Survey and also persist in a SLS model. We also find evidence for negative preference effects of immigrant diversity for more ethnocentric individuals. Lastly, we analyze the link between birthplace diversity and attitudes to redistribution in Europe. Using data for 29 European countries, we find that native workers tend to lower their support for redistribution of income when immigration is high. In addition, this effect varies along the skill distribution of natives, converges towards zero for highly educated individuals and is robust to using more detailed measures of labor market skill.

Economics of Immigration provides students with the tools needed to examine the economic impact of immigration and immigration policies over the past century. Students will develop an understanding of why and how people migrate across borders and will learn how to analyze the economic causes and effects of immigration. The main objectives of the book are for students to understand the decision to migrate; to understand the impact of immigration on markets and government budgets; and to understand the consequences of immigration policies in a global context. From the first chapter, students will develop an appreciation of the importance of immigration as a separate academic field within labor economics and international economics. Topics covered include the effect of immigration on labor markets, housing markets, international trade, tax revenues, human capital accumulation, and government fiscal balances. The book also considers the impact of immigration on what firms choose to produce, and even on the ethnic diversity of restaurants and on financial markets, as well as the theory and evidence on immigrants’ economic assimilation. The textbook includes a comparative study of immigration policies in a number of immigrant-receiving and sending countries, beginning with the history of immigration policy in the United States. Finally, the book explores immigration topics that directly affect developing countries, such as remittances, brain drain, human trafficking, and rural-urban internal migration. Readers will also be fully equipped with the tools needed to understand and contribute to policy debates on this controversial topic. This is the first textbook to comprehensively cover the economics of immigration, and it is suitable both for economics students and for students studying migration in other disciplines, such as sociology and politics.

Part of "The Research in Labor Economics" series, this volume is a collection of papers dedicated to the memory of the late Tikva Lecker. Professor Lecker's many interests included topics in labor economics, women and the economy, the economics of Judaism, the economics of migration and the economic experience of immigrants and their descendants.

As high-skilled immigration has accelerated in recent decades, the workforces of developed nations has become more diverse. The first chapter, “Cross-Ethnic Diversity and Innovative Output”, explores the implications of this diversity in the context of scientific and innovative productivity.

Millions of people—nearly 3 percent of the world’s population—no longer live in the country where they were born. Every day, migrants enter not only the United States but also developed countries without much of a history of immigration. Some of these nations have switched in a short span of time from being the source of immigrants to being a destination for them. International migration is today a central subject of research in modern labor economics, which seeks to put into perspective and explain this historic demographic transformation. Immigration Economics synthesizes the theories, models, and econometric methods used to identify the causes and consequences of international labor flows. Economist George Borjas lays out with clarity and rigor a full spectrum of topics, including migrant worker selection and assimilation, the impact of immigration on labor markets and worker wages, and the economic benefits and losses that result from immigration. Two important themes emerge: First, immigration has distributional consequences: some people gain, but some people lose. Second, immigrants are rational economic agents who attempt to do the best they can with the resources they have, and the same holds true for native workers of the countries that receive migrants. This straightforward behavioral proposition, Borjas argues, has crucial implications for how economists and policymakers should frame contemporary debates over immigration.

The Economics of International Migration is a collection of the fundamental articles written by Giovanni Peri on the economic determinants and consequences of international migration. These papers have provided the theoretical framework and empirical analysis for a rethinking of the economics of migration, going beyond the Canonical model of labor demand and supply used until the 1990s. Beginning with a simple model that recognizes the differences between immigrants and natives as workers, the articles develop the analysis of complementarity, specialization and productivity effect of immigrants in developed economies. The book then presents a series of papers analyzing and testing the economic motivation for international migration. Finally, the focus is shifted to the effect of immigration policies and their consequences on immigration and the economy.