Effects of Information Channels across Skill and Product Quality Groups: Evidence from Trade-Migration Nexus

Three essays in immigration economics

“…In contrast, export elasticity for low-quality products with respect to low-skilled immigrants is higher than high-skilled immigrants (0.16 < 0.22). These results show a clear pattern between migrants' skill level and product quality with respect to the network effect on export and are similar to the results found in Aziz (2018). High-skilled immigrants have lower liquidity constraints and better capacity to handle complex information required in the high-quality product industry, and our results show their advantage in this product quality segment.…”

“…This paper uses a theory-grounded fixed-effects gravity model model that builds on the Ricardian set-up of . Following Aziz (2018), we depart from EK assumption of homothetic preference to propose that there can be different types of goods (i.e., with different quality) which may differ in demand and technology. State j produces a continuum of goods l k ∈ [0, 1] of quality k with good specific productivity in state j:z j (l k ).…”

“…More recently, finds high-skilled migrants tend to impact higher on trade because of lower liquidity constraints and advantages in their human capital that imply lower costs. Aziz (2018) analyses the impact of high-skilled vs. low-skilled immigrants and finds high-skilled ethnic networks have a more substantial direct effect on aggregated bilateral trade than the low-skilled ones. The paper argued that, along with having lesser liquidity constraints, high-skilled immigrants have a better ability to receive and process information (Schultz, 1975) to start transactions with their native counterparts in their source country using this information.…”

“…High-skilled migrants with lower liquidity constraints and advantages in human capital should be the predominant force in exporting such products. Earlier studies like and Aziz (2018) have examined the extent to which the relationship between ethnic networks and trade across product quality varies with immigrants' skill level. , which reports significant differences between the effects of immigrants who reside in a given state and those who reside in other states on US state-level exports to the immigrants' home countries, consider entry classification (which may encompass both immigrant-specific and immigrant home country attributes) as a potential source for the observed variation.…”