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The selection of migrants and returnees in Romania

Author

Listed:
  • J. William Ambrosini
  • Karin Mayr
  • Giovanni Peri
  • Dragos Radu

Abstract

type="main" xml:id="ecot12077-abs-0001"> This paper uses census and survey data to identify the wage earning ability and the selection of recent Romanian migrants and returnees on observable characteristics. We construct measures of selection across skill groups and estimate the average and the skill-specific premium for migration and return for three typical destinations of Romanian migrants after 1990. Once we account for migration costs, we find evidence that the selection and sorting of migrants are driven by different returns to skills in countries of destination. Our identification strategy for the effects of work experience abroad permits a cautious causal interpretation of the premium to return migration. This premium increases with migrants' skills and drives the positive selection of returnees relative to non-migrants. Based on the compatibility of the results with rationality in the migration decisions, we simulate a rational-agent model of education, migration and return. Our results suggest that for a source country like Romania relatively high rates of temporary migration might have positive long-run effects on average skills and wages.

Suggested Citation

  • J. William Ambrosini & Karin Mayr & Giovanni Peri & Dragos Radu, 2015. "The selection of migrants and returnees in Romania," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 23(4), pages 753-793, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:etrans:v:23:y:2015:i:4:p:753-793
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/ecot.2015.23.issue-4
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    Cited by:

    1. Amelie F. Constant, 2019. "Return, Circular, and Onward Migration Decisions in a Knowledge Society," CESifo Working Paper Series 7913, CESifo.
    2. Merita Zulfiu Alili & Nick Adnett, 2021. "Return migrants in Albania: The determinants of “entrepreneurial gain”," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 1761-1777, August.
    3. Naito, Takumi & Zhao, Laixun, 2020. "Capital accumulation through studying abroad and return migration," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 185-196.
    4. Fernihough, Alan & Ó Gráda, Cormac, 2019. "Across the sea to Ireland: Return Atlantic migration before the First World War," QUCEH Working Paper Series 2019-08, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's University Centre for Economic History.
    5. Sergiu Gherghina, 2021. "Work and Stay: Explaining Perceived Discrimination Among Romanian Labor Migrants," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 887-905, September.
    6. Nelly Elmallakh & Jackline Wahba, 2022. "Return migrants and the wage premium: does the legal status of migrants matter?," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(4), pages 1631-1685, October.
    7. Constant, Amelie F., 2020. "Time-Space Dynamics of Return and Circular Migration: Theories and Evidence," GLO Discussion Paper Series 446, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    8. Michael A. Clemens & Claudio E. Montenegro & Lant Pritchett, 2019. "The Place Premium: Bounding the Price Equivalent of Migration Barriers," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 101(2), pages 201-213, May.
    9. Marco Di Cintio & Emanuele Grassi, 2016. "The returns to temporary migration: The case of Italian Ph.D.s," EERI Research Paper Series EERI RP 2016/15, Economics and Econometrics Research Institute (EERI), Brussels.
    10. Michael A. Clemens & Claudio Montenegro & Lant Pritchett, 2016. "Bounding the Price Equivalent of Migration Barriers," CID Working Papers 316, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    11. Biavaschi, Costanza, 2016. "Recovering the counterfactual wage distribution with selective return migration," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 59-80.
    12. Bensassi, Sami & Jabbour, Liza, 2017. "Return Migration and Entrepreneurial Success: An Empirical Analysis for Egypt," GLO Discussion Paper Series 98, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    13. De la Roca, Jorge, 2017. "Selection in initial and return migration: Evidence from moves across Spanish cities," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 33-53.
    14. World Bank, 2020. "Towards Safer and More Productive Migration for South Asia," World Bank Publications - Reports 33559, The World Bank Group.
    15. Ina Ganguli, 2018. "Immigrant selection before and after communism," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 26(4), pages 649-694, October.
    16. Florian Knauth & Jens Wrona, 2018. "There and Back Again: A Simple Theory of Planned Return Migration," CESifo Working Paper Series 7388, CESifo.
    17. Knauth, Florian & Wrona, Jens, 2018. "There and back again: A simple theory of planned return migration," DICE Discussion Papers 290, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).

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