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Fertility, Migration, and Altruism

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Author Info
Eli Berman
Zaur Rzakhanov

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Abstract

Consider migration to a higher income region as a human capital investment in which parents bear migration costs and children share returns. Migrants from a population with heterogeneous intergenerational discount rates will be self-selected on intergenerational altruism. Thus, immigrants may be self-selected on fertility. Soviet Jews who migrate to Israel despite high migration costs have significantly more children than members of the same birth cohort who migrate later when costs are low. We distinguish selection from treatment effects using a comparison group of women who migrate after childbearing age. We also find that immigrants favor bequests more and spend more time with their grandchildren in the U.S. Health and Retirement Survey. Selection on altruism can explain why historically immigrant-absorbing countries like the U.S. have higher fertility than other countries at comparable income levels. It provides an alternative explanation for Chiswick's classic earnings-overtaking result. Selection on altruism also implies that immigrant-absorbing regions will grow faster, or have higher per capita income, or both.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 7545.

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Date of creation: Feb 2000
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:7545

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior
D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Francine D. Blau, 1992. "The Fertility of Immigrant Women: Evidence from High-Fertility Source Countries," NBER Chapters, in: Immigration and the Workforce: Economic Consequences for the United States and Source Areas, pages 93-134 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
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  2. Friedberg, Rachel M, 2000. "You Can't Take It with You? Immigrant Assimilation and the Portability of Human Capital," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 18(2), pages 221-51, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Barro, Robert J & Becker, Gary S, 1989. "Fertility Choice in a Model of Economic Growth," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 57(2), pages 481-501, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. Tcha, Moonjoong, 1996. "Altruism and Migration: Evidence from Korea and the United States," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 44(4), pages 859-78, July.
  5. Chiswick, Barry R, 1978. "The Effect of Americanization on the Earnings of Foreign-born Men," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 86(5), pages 897-921, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Eli Berman, 2000. "Sect, Subsidy, And Sacrifice: An Economist'S View Of Ultra-Orthodox Jews," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 115(3), pages 905-953, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. LaLonde, Robert J & Topel, Robert H, 1991. "Immigrants in the American Labor Market: Quality, Assimilation, and Distributional Effects," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(2), pages 297-302, May.
  8. Altonji, Joseph G & Hayashi, Fumio & Kotlikoff, Laurence J, 1992. "Is the Extended Family Altruistically Linked? Direct Tests Using Micro Data," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(5), pages 1177-98, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Yoram Ben-Porath, 1967. "The Production of Human Capital and the Life Cycle of Earnings," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 75, pages 352. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Borjas, George J, 1987. "Self-Selection and the Earnings of Immigrants," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(4), pages 531-53, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Yashiv, Eran, 2003. "Self-Selection of Migrant Workers: Migration Premium and (no) Returns to Skills," CEPR Discussion Papers 4156, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Aydemir, Abdurrahman & Chen, Wen-Hao & Corak, Miles, 2008. "Intergenerational Education Mobility among the Children of Canadian Immigrants," IZA Discussion Papers 3759, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  3. Eran Yashiv, 2004. "The Self Selection of Migrant Workers Revisited," CEP Discussion Papers dp0655, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. [Downloadable!]
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  4. Aydemir, Abdurrahman & Chen, Wen-Hao & Corak, Miles, 2008. "Intergenerational Education Mobility Among the Children of Canadian Immigrants," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2008316e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch. [Downloadable!]
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