Recovering the counterfactual wage distribution with selective return migration

B-Tier
Journal: Labour Economics
Year: 2016
Volume: 38
Issue: C
Pages: 59-80

Score contribution per author:

2.011 = (α=2.01 / 1 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

This paper recovers the distribution of wages for Mexican-born workers living in the U.S. if no return migration of Mexican-born workers occurred. Because migrants self-select in the decision to return, the overarching problem addressed by this study is the use of an estimator that also accounts for selection on unobservables. I find that Mexican returnees are middle- to high-wage earners at all levels of educational attainment. Taking into account self-selection in return migration, wages would be approximately 7.7% higher at the median and 4.5% higher at the mean. Owing to positive self-selection, the immigrant-native wage gap would, therefore, partially close if there was no return migration.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:labeco:v:38:y:2016:i:c:p:59-80
Journal Field
Labor
Author Count
1
Added to Database
2026-01-24