The Impact of Immigration on the Human Capital of Natives

Abstract

"Implications of the quantity (number) and quality (skill) of immigration on the destination economy are analyzed, including impacts on value added, wages, quasi rents, rates of return, and the skill distribution of the native labor force. Quantity-quality trade-offs are considered for both immigrant and native workers. Medium- and long-run labor-supply responses by natives to immigrant-induced changes in wage rates are shown to have second-order effects which subtantively affect the impacts of immigrants. The impact of immigration policy depends on the quality as well as quantity of immigrants, the time horizon, and the speed of factor market adjustment."

The Heterogeneity of Immigrants, Host Countries' Income and Productivity: A Channel Accounting Approach

“…However, as immigrants assimilate to host country the hampering effect of transaction costs diminish and are eventually outweighed by gains from production complementarities. Lastly, the contrasting effects of immigrants on human capital across age groups appears to be consistent with a behavioral response of natives related to changes in relative factor prices owing to immigrants having different skills than natives (Chiswick 1989). Assuming, for instance, that immigrants specialize in tasks demanding lower level of education than natives, an increase of immigrants among the young, decreases average human capital but increases also the wage premium on tasks demanding complementary skills.…”

Public pensions' sustainability and population ageing: Is immigration the solution?

“…The first suggests that immigrants move to regions of strong labour demand. The second concerns an endogenous response from the country's native population (an education-skill response), which offsets the adverse impact of immigration (Chiswick, 1989). However, Bratsberg, Barth and Raaum (2006) show for the United States' labour market that immigrants' wages are more responsive than native workers' wages to changes in local labour market conditions.…”

Immigration, Occupational Choice and Public Employment

“…These studies are even omitted in the surveys of the theoretical literature (see, e.g., Bodvarsson and Van den Berg, 2009). Most likely the first contribution analyzing endogenous human capital adjustments to immigration is that of Chiswick (1989), who finds that an immigration policy that is beneficial to natives is generally accompanied by an increase in human capital investments by natives. Eberhard (2012) calibrates a general equilibrium model with endogenous educational choices (to the US economy).…”