Essais sur l'économie de l'immigration et diversité des lieux de naissance

This thesis deals with the economic analysis of population diversity, specifically diversity in terms of people's countries of origin. We propose an index of birth-place diversity for the work force of 195 countries in the years 1990 and 2000. We show that birthplace diversity is a new dimension of population diversity that is conceptually and empirically distinct from ethno-linguistic and genetic measures of diversity and, unlike these, is positively correlated with long-run economic output. This effect is larger for skilled immigrants in richer countries and robust in a SLS setting. We also find the productive effect of diversity to be larger for immigrants who are culturally close (but not too close) to natives and those who come from richer origin countries. We also investigate the link between birthplace diversity and attitudes to immigration. Using the World Values Survey with data for 72 countries, we find that skilled natives increase their support for immigration when diversity of skilled immigrants is high. results are robust to using the European Social Survey and also persist in a SLS model. We also find evidence for negative preference effects of immigrant diversity for more ethnocentric individuals. Lastly, we analyze the link between birthplace diversity and attitudes to redistribution in Europe. Using data for 29 European countries, we find that native workers tend to lower their support for redistribution of income when immigration is high. In addition, this effect varies along the skill distribution of natives, converges towards zero for highly educated individuals and is robust to using more detailed measures of labor market skill.Cette thèse s'intéresse à la mesure et à l'analyse des effets de la diversité liée aux lieux (pays) de naissance d'une population. Nous montrons que la «diversité des lieux de naissance» est une dimension nouvelle de la diversité d'une population, qu'elle est conceptuellement et statistiquement distincte de la diversité ethnolinguistique ou génétique et que, contrairement à celles-ci, elle est corrélée positivement avec la productivité à long terme. Cet effet est plus important pour les immigrants qualifiés dans les pays riches. Nous montrons également que l'effet productif de la diversité est plus grand pour les immigrants qui sont proches culturellement des natifs du pays d'accueil - mais pas trop proches - et qui sont originaires de pays plus riches. Encore, étudions le lien entre la diversité des lieux de naissance et les attitudes vis-à-vis de l'immigration. Nous utilisons le World Values Survey pour 72 pays et montrons que les natifs qualifiés augmentent leur soutien à l'immigration lorsque la diversité des immigrants qualifiés est élevée. Les résultats sont robustes à l'utilisation du European Social Survey. Enfin, nous analysons le lien entre la diversité des lieux de naissance et les attitudes vis-à-¬vis de la redistribution en Europe. En utilisant des données de 29 pays Européens, nous constatons que les autochtones ont tendance à réduire leur soutien aux politiques de redistribution lorsque l'immigration est élevée. En outre, cet effet varie le long de la répartition des compétences des natifs et converge vers zéro pour les personnes éduquées; il est de plus robuste à l'utilisation de mesures plus précises des niveaux de compétences sur le marché du travail

Birthplace diversity and economic prosperity

International audienceWe propose an index of population diversity based on people’s birthplaces and decompose it into a size (share of immigrants) and a variety (diversity of immigrants) component. We show that birthplace diversity is largely uncorrelated with ethnic, linguistic or genetic diversity and that the diversity of immigrants relates positively to measures of economic prosperity. This holds especially for skilled immigrants in richer countries at intermediate levels of cultural proximity. We address endogeneity by specifying a pseudo-gravity model predicting the size and diversity of immigration. The results are robust across specifications and suggestive of skill-complementarities between immigrants and native workers

Immigration and the Future of the Welfare State in Europe

We analyze the effect of immigration on attitudes to redistribution in Europe. Using data for 28 European countries from the European Social Survey, we .nd that native workers lower their support for redistribution if the share of immigration in their country is high. This effect is larger for individuals who hold negative views regarding immigration but is smaller when immigrants are culturally closer to natives and come from richer origin countries. The effect also varies with native workers’ and immigrants’ education. In particular, more educated natives (in terms of formal education but also job-specic human capital and ocupation task skill intensity) support more redistribution if immigrants are also relatively educated. To address endogeneity concerns, we restrict identification to within country and within country-occupation variation and also instrument immigration using a gravity model. Overall, our results show that the negative .First-order effect of immigration on attitudes to redistribution is relatively small and counterbalanced among skilled natives by positive second-order effects for the quality and diversity of immigration

Immigration and the Future of the Welfare State in Europe

International audienceWe analyze the effect of immigration on attitudes toward income redistribution in twenty-eight European countries over the period 2002 to 2012, before the “refugee crisis.” We find that native workers lower their support for redistribution if the share of immigration in their country is high. This effect is larger for individuals who hold negative views regarding immigration but is smaller when immigrants are culturally closer to natives and come from richer-origin countries. The effect also varies with native workers’ and immigrants’ education: more educated natives support more redistribution if immigrants are also relatively educated. Overall, our results show that the negative effect of immigration on attitudes toward redistribution is relatively small and is counterbalanced among skilled natives by positive second-order effects for the quality and diversity of immigration

credit, including © notice, is given to the source. Birthplace Diversity and Economic Prosperity

December 2012, for comments on a previous draft. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peerreviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications