Public beliefs in social mobility and high-skilled migration

Public Goods , Social Norms and Naive Beliefs ∗

An individual’s contribution to a public good may be seen by others as a signal of attributes such as generosity or wealth. An individual may, therefore, choose their contribution so as to send an appropriate signal to others. In this paper we question how the inferences made by others will influence the amount contributed to the public good. Evidence suggests that individuals are naive and bia...

Social Justice and the Migration of Highly Skilled Elites

Migration Enclaves, Schooling Choices and Social Mobility

This paper investigates the presence of a network externality which might explain the persistence of low schooling achievements among internal migrants. A simple analytical framework is presented to show how an initial human capital disparity between migrants and non migrants can translate into persistent skill inequality if origin shapes the composition of social networks. We test empirically ...

Migration, Marriage, and Social Mobility: Women in Sweden 1880-1900

We study the social mobility of women by looking at the connection between migration and marriage outcomes using complete count census data for Sweden. The censuses 1880-1900 have been linked at the individual level, enabling us to follow 100,000 women from their parental home to their new marital household. Marriage market imbalances were not an important push factor for migration but we find ...

Wage Effects of High-Skilled Migration: International Evidence

Wage Effects of High-Skilled Migration: International Evidence This paper argues that international migration of high-skilled workers triggers productivity effects at the macro level such that the wage rate of skilled workers may rise in host countries and decline in source countries. We exploit a recent data set on international bilateral migration flows and provide evidence which is consisten...