IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/coecpo/v16y1998i3p265-276.html

Immigration, Population Heterogeneity, And Earnings Inequality In Hong Kong

Author

Listed:
  • KIT‐CHUN LAM
  • PAK‐WAI LIU

Abstract

This paper analyzes the heterogeneity effect of immigration on earnings in‐equality by decomposing the aggregate measure of total inequality. The analysis shows that a substantial portion of an increase in measured inequality could be due to shifts in shares of heterogeneous population groups caused by immigration policy rather than by widening earnings dispersion within these groups. The analysis is illustrated with census data of Hong Kong from 1981 to 1991. Income redistribution policy based on measured total inequality when there are shifts in population shares could be misguided.

Suggested Citation

  • Kit‐Chun Lam & Pak‐Wai Liu, 1998. "Immigration, Population Heterogeneity, And Earnings Inequality In Hong Kong," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 16(3), pages 265-276, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:coecpo:v:16:y:1998:i:3:p:265-276
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1465-7287.1998.tb00518.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1465-7287.1998.tb00518.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1465-7287.1998.tb00518.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Butcher, Kristin F & Card, David, 1991. "Immigration and Wages: Evidence from the 1980's," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(2), pages 292-296, May.
    2. Karoly, Lynn A, 1992. "Changes in the Distribution of Individual Earnings in the United States: 1967-1986," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 74(1), pages 107-115, February.
    3. Pischke, J.S. & Velling, J., 1994. "Wages and Employment Effects of Immigration to Germany: An Analysis Based on Local Labor Markets," Working papers 94-08, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Economics.
    4. George J. Borjas, 1987. "Immigrants, Minorities, and Labor Market Competition," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 40(3), pages 382-392, April.
    5. Maria E. Enchautegui, 1995. "Effects Of Immigrants On The 1980–1990 U.S. Wage Experience," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 13(3), pages 20-38, July.
    6. Liu, Pak-wai & Wong, Yue-chim, 1981. "Human Capital and Inequality in Singapore," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 29(2), pages 275-293, January.
    7. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Introduction to "Schooling, Experience, and Earnings"," NBER Chapters, in: Schooling, Experience, and Earnings, pages 1-4, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Rachel M. Friedberg & Jennifer Hunt, 1995. "The Impact of Immigrants on Host Country Wages, Employment and Growth," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(2), pages 23-44, Spring.
    9. Juhn, Chinhui & Murphy, Kevin M & Pierce, Brooks, 1993. "Wage Inequality and the Rise in Returns to Skill," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(3), pages 410-442, June.
    10. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Schooling and Earnings," NBER Chapters, in: Schooling, Experience, and Earnings, pages 41-63, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Schooling, Experience, and Earnings," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number minc74-1, January.
    12. Kristin Butcher & David Card, 1991. "Immigration and Wages: Evidence From the 1980's," Working Papers 661, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    13. George J. Borjas & Richard B. Freeman, 1992. "Immigration and the Work Force: Economic Consequences for the United States and Source Areas," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number borj92-1, January.
    14. Grossman, Jean Baldwin, 1982. "The Substitutability of Natives and Immigrants in Production," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 64(4), pages 596-603, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kee-Lee Chou & Kelvin Cheung & Maggie Lau & Tony Sin, 2014. "Trends in Child Poverty in Hong Kong Immigrant Families," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 117(3), pages 811-825, July.
    2. Kelvin Chi-Kin Cheung & Wai-Sum Chan & Kee-Lee Chou, 2019. "Material Deprivation and Working Poor in Hong Kong," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 145(1), pages 39-66, August.
    3. Chong, Terence Tai Leung & Ka, Yiu Tung, 2019. "Forecasting Income Inequality with Demographic Projections," MPRA Paper 99160, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Charles Ka Yui Leung & Joe Cho Yiu Ng & Edward Tang, 2020. "Why is the Hong Kong Housing Market Unaffordable? Some Stylized Facts and Estimations," Globalization Institute Working Papers 380, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
    5. Kelvin Chi-Kin Cheung & Kee-Lee Chou, 2016. "Working Poor in Hong Kong," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 129(1), pages 317-335, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Steinhardt Max Friedrich, 2011. "The Wage Impact of Immigration in Germany - New Evidence for Skill Groups and Occupations," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 11(1), pages 1-35, June.
    2. Joan Llull, 2018. "Immigration, Wages, and Education: A Labour Market Equilibrium Structural Model," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 85(3), pages 1852-1896.
    3. Bonin, Holger, 2017. "The Potential Economic Benefits of Education of Migrants in the EU," IZA Research Reports 75, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Abdurrahman Aydemir & George J. Borjas, 2011. "Attenuation Bias in Measuring the Wage Impact of Immigration," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 29(1), pages 69-113, January.
    5. Rachel M. Friedberg & Jennifer Hunt, 1995. "The Impact of Immigrants on Host Country Wages, Employment and Growth," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(2), pages 23-44, Spring.
    6. Lin, Chun-Hung Andy, 2000. "Changing wages and employment by skill in Taiwan, 1978-1996: The roles of education policy, trade, and immigration," ISU General Staff Papers 2000010108000013699, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    7. repec:cgr:cgsser:03-12 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Aleksandra Anić & Gorana Krstić, 2019. "What Lies Behind The Gender Wage Gap In Serbia?," Economic Annals, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Belgrade, vol. 64(223), pages 137-170, October –.
    9. Domenico Depalo & Raffaela Giordano & Evangelia Papapetrou, 2015. "Public–private wage differentials in euro-area countries: evidence from quantile decomposition analysis," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 49(3), pages 985-1015, November.
    10. Sonja Jovicic, 2015. "Wage Inequality, Skill Inequality, and Employment: Evidence from PIAAC," Schumpeter Discussion Papers SDP15007, Universitätsbibliothek Wuppertal, University Library.
    11. Lemos, Sara, 2025. "Peekaboo! Uncovering the Impact of the Eastern European Immigration Shock on Wages Employment and Unemployment in the UK," IZA Discussion Papers 18000, IZA Network @ LISER.
    12. Vélez, Carlos Eduardo & Leibovich, Jose & Kugler, Adriana & Bouillón, Cesar & Núñez, Jairo, 2001. "The Reversal of Inequality Trends in Colombia, 1978-1995: A Combination of Persistent and Fluctuating Forces," MPRA Paper 69701, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Gurleen Popli & Okan Yılmaz, 2017. "Educational Attainment and Wage Inequality in Turkey," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 31(1), pages 73-104, March.
    14. P. Lovaglio & S. Verzillo, 2016. "Heterogeneous economic returns to higher education: evidence from Italy," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 50(2), pages 791-822, March.
    15. Simonetta Longhi & Peter Nijkamp & Jacques Poot, 2009. "Regional Economic Impacts of Immigration: A Review," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 09-047/3, Tinbergen Institute, revised 23 Jul 2009.
    16. Steinhardt, Max Friedrich, 2006. "Arbeitsmarkt und Migration: Eine empirische Analyse der Lohn- und Beschäftigungseffekte der Zuwanderung für Deutschland," HWWI Research Papers 3-4, Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWI).
    17. Günalp, Burak & Cilasun, Seyit Mümin & Acar, Elif Öznur, 2013. "Male-Female Labor Market Participation and the Extent of Gender-Based Wage Discrimination in Turkey," MPRA Paper 51503, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Ebo Botchway & Kofi Fred Asiedu, 2020. "Ownership type and earnings gap decomposition: Evidence from the Ghanaian labor market," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 32(4), pages 619-631, December.
    19. Cunha, Flavio & Heckman, James J., 2007. "Identifying and Estimating the Distributions of Ex Post and Ex Ante Returns to Schooling," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(6), pages 870-893, December.
    20. Gustavo Yamada, 2007. "Retornos a la educación superior en el mercado laboral: ¿vale la pena el esfuerzo?," Diagnóstico y propuesta, Consorcio de Investigación Económica y Social.
    21. Card, David, 2001. "Immigrant Inflows, Native Outflows, and the Local Labor Market Impacts of Higher Immigration," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 19(1), pages 22-64, January.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:coecpo:v:16:y:1998:i:3:p:265-276. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/weaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.