The relationship between Higher Education and labour market in Greece : the weakest link?

The high level of graduate unemployment, even though it is acknowledged as one of the most distinctive characteristics of the Greek labour market, it has not attracted enough attention in the academic literature. This paper utilizes micro-data from the Labour Force Survey in order to investigate how the employment situation of young (aged 35 and below) graduates varies across fields of study. The findings suggest that graduates of disciplines that have high levels of private sector employment, such as Polytechnics and Computer Science, are in general better off in the Greek labour market. On the other hand, graduates of disciplines that are traditionally related to the needs of the public sector, such as Sociology and Humanities, face poor employment prospects. The findings of this study highlight the need for drastic reforms of the Higher Education system

Return Migration: Theory and Empirical Evidence from the UK

In this article, we discuss forms of migration that are non-permanent. We focus on temporary migrations where the decision to return is taken by the immigrant. These migrations are likely to be frequent, and we provide some evidence for the UK. We then develop a simple model that rationalizes the decision of a migrant to return to his/her home country, despite a persistently higher wage in the host country. We consider three motives for a temporary migration: (i) differences in relative prices between host and home country, (ii) complementarities between consumption and the location where consumption takes place, and (iii) the possibility of accumulating human capital abroad, which enhances the immigrant's earnings potential back home. For the last return motive, we discuss extensions that allow for immigrant heterogeneity, and develop implications for selective in- and out-migration. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd/London School of Economics 2007.

The relationship between remittances and macroeconomic variables in times of political and social upheaval: Evidence from Tunisia's Arab Spring

International audienceIf Tunisia is hailed as a success story with its high rankings on economic, educational, and other indicators relative to other Arab countries, the popular 2011 uprisings underscored the fragility of its main economic pillars, including those of tourism and foreign direct investment. This paper examines the economic impact of migrants’ remittances, which are expected to exhibit relatively countercyclical behaviour during periods of intense upheaval. This study is novel in its methodological approach, which is used to pinpoint the dynamic effects of remittances on key macroeconomic variables within an unstable framework. The analysis reveals that the effect of remittances on Tunisia's economy has varied over time. Prior to the Arab Spring, remittances had a short‐term negative influence on economic growth, varying effects on domestic investment and positive impacts on consumption. In considering the post‐Arab uprisings, positive and strong impacts of remittances on growth and consumption are found in the long run while negative and moderate investment effects of remittances are shown over the short and medium term

Migration and the well-being of the 'left behind' in Asia: Key themes and trends

10.1080/17441730600700507Asian Population Studies2137-4

Migrant remittances and physical investment purchases: evidence from Kenyan households

This paper investigates the impact of remittances on household decisions to purchase physical investments in Kenya using household survey data. An instrumental variables approach is employed using rainfall variation and mobile network coverage as instruments to control for the endogeneity of remittances. The empirical evidence obtained is suggestive of remittances having a positive and significant effect on the decisions by households to purchase physical investments