Economics of Immigration

Barry R. Chiswick, Professor and Department Chair, Department of Economics, George Washington University, US and IZA – Institute for the Study of Labor, Bonn, Germany

'The author presents the findings of a selected number of path-breaking studies regarding the economics of migration. . . this book contributes a series of valid findings on migrants and their pervasive role in the economies of receiving countries. This is achieved by the author's clear and innovative approach to various topics, grounded in solid theory and the detailed observation of a variety of factors contributing to the complex processes of migration . . . Overall, this book is an enlightening account on immigration and its economic effects, which all those joining the migration debate should acknowledge. On a technical level, some readers might be put off by the fact that certain arguments are repeated in different chapters - representing reproducions of original articles published elsewhere. This being so, selected chapters from each part of the volume might be a choice to consider for those more interested in the broader migration topics under discussion. Those with specialist interest in the details of migration, however, should find the sometimes marginal contributions of different chapters useful, as they are synthesised out of a vast literature, spanning three decades of specialised research.'

• Contents: Foreword by Gary S. Becker Preface Introduction Part I: Earnings and Employment 1. The Effect of Americanization on the Earnings of Foreign-born Men2. The Economic Progress of Immigrants: Some Apparently Universal Patterns3. Immigrant Earnings: Language Skills, Linguistic Concentrations and the Business Cycle4. The Employment, Unemployment and Unemployment Compensation Benefits of ImmigrantsPart II: The Selectivity of Immigrants 5. Are Immigrants Favorably Self-Selected? An Economic Analysis6. Human Capital and the Labor Market Adjustment of Immigrants: Testing Alternative Hypotheses7. Is the New Immigration Less Skilled than the Old? Part III: Immigrant Impacts 8. The Impact of Immigration on the Level and Distribution of Economic Well-being9. The Impact of Immigrants on the Macroeconomy10. Mass Migration and Income Inequality in IsraelPart IV: Illegal Immigrants 11. The Economics of Illegal Migration for the Host Economy12. Illegal Immigration and Immigration Control13. Speaking, Reading, and Earnings Among Low-Skilled ImmigrantsPart V: Immigration Policy 14. Guidelines for the Reform of Immigration Policy15. An Alternative Approach to Immigration Policy: Rationing by Skill16. Policy Analysis of Foreign Student VisasAppendix: Bibliography of Immigration Research Index