Contribution to the Project “International Migration in ECA and Investing in Inclusive Growth in Romania RAS“

Tasks

The project contributes to the World Bank project on “International Migration in ECA and Investing in Inclusive Growth in Romania RAS”, which aims to understand the social and economic impact of international migration in Europe and Central Asia, depending on the type of migration experiences and the characteristics of the migrant population. The aim was to develop policy recommendations, on how to promote and maintain safe migration and facilitate the integration of particularly vulnerable subgroups such as refugees, displaced persons and ethnic minorities. The project results enable additional migration research and insights about language learning in adulthood before migration has taken place.

For this purpose, four background papers have been carried out, investigating (1) self-selection of refugees and irregular migrants, (2) migration intentions and language learning, (3) investments in internationally applicable and country-specific education, language learning and migration intentions, and (4) the welfare effects of immigration in Europe.

Methods

The project uses econometric research (papers 1, 2, and 3) and computational general equilibrium models with calibration (paper 4).

Data and other sources

Paper 1 uses confidential data from IOM as its primary data source.
Papers 2 and 3 use own survey data.  
Paper 4 uses panel data from various sources, such as Eurostat.

Results

The findings of the four background papers can be summarized as follows:

Paper 1:  This paper provides evidence on the motivations and intended destinations of refugees and irregular migrants who arrived in Europe in 2015 or 2016 using data from the International Organization for Migration’s Flow Monitoring Surveys (FMS). Most migrants fled conflict or persecution, but there are major cross-country differences in the share of refugees and economic migrants.

Paper 2: English remains the most commonly studied foreign language by students across different countries and study fields. The main motivations for language learning are future studies and career considerations.

Paper 3: There are substantial differences in how applicable and useful students perceive their studies, both across study fields and countries. Students who expect their education to be relatively more useful are more likely to want to emigrate.

Paper 4: Welfare effects of immigration are estimated for low-skilled and high-skilled native population in 24 European countries to be heterogeneous across countries and skill groups. In most cases, the effects of a marginal increase in the number of immigrants are positive for non-immigrants.

Publications

1. Aksoy, C. G. and P. Poutvaara (2020), Refugees’ and Irregular Migrants’ Self-selection into Europe: Who Migrates Where? Study of the ifo Institute on Behalf of the World Bank.

2. Poutvaara, P., T. Nikolka, T. Stitteneder, J. Adema (2020a), International Migration and Language Learning, Study of the ifo Institute on Behalf of the World Bank.

3. Poutvaara, P., T. Nikolka, T. Stitteneder, J. Adema (2020b), Investments in Internationally Applicable and Country-specific Education, Language Learning and Migration Intentions, Study of the ifo Institute on Behalf of the World Bank.

4. Battisti, M. and P. Poutvaara (2020), Immigration, Search, and Redistribution: updated cross-country evidence of effects of migration, Study of the ifo Institute on Behalf of the World Bank.