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Selected AbstractsFrom individual attitudes towards migrants to migration policy outcomes: Theory and evidenceECONOMIC POLICY, Issue 56 2008Giovanni Facchini SUMMARY Attitudes and migration policy We are experiencing a wave of globalization that includes everything but labour. In this paper, we argue that this is the result of restrictive migration policies implemented by destination countries. In democratic societies individual attitudes of voters represent the foundations of policy making. To understand policy outcomes, we analyse the patterns and determinants of voters' opinions on immigration. We find that, across countries of different income levels, only a small minority of voters favour more open policies. Furthermore, our analysis supports the role played by economic channels in shaping public opinion. We next investigate how attitudes translate into policy outcomes, considering two alternative frameworks: the median voter and the interest groups model. On the one hand, the very low percentages of voters favouring immigration are, in light of the existing restrictive policies, consistent with the median voter framework. At the same time, given the extent of opposition to immigration that appears in public opinion, it is somewhat surprising in a median voter framework that immigration takes place at all. We find that interest-groups dynamics have the potential to explain this puzzle. , Giovanni Facchini and Anna Maria Mayda [source] Nurses on the Move: A Global OverviewHEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH, Issue 3p2 2007Mireille Kingma Objective. To look at nurse migration flows in the light of national nursing workforce imbalances, examine factors that encourage or inhibit nurse mobility, and explore the potential benefits of circular migration. Principal Findings. The number of international migrants has doubled since 1970 and nurses are increasingly part of the migratory stream. Critical nursing shortages in industrialized countries are generating a demand that is fueling energetic international recruitment campaigns. Structural adjustments in the developing countries have created severe workforce imbalances and shortfalls often coexist with large numbers of unemployed health professionals. A nurse's motivation to migrate is multifactorial, not limited to financial incentives, and barriers exist that discourage or slow the migration process. The migration flows vary in direction and magnitude over time, responding to socioeconomic factors present in source and destination countries. The dearth of data on which to develop international health human resource policy remains. There is growing recognition, however, that migration will continue and that temporary migration will be a focus of attention in the years to come. Conclusions. Today's search for labor is a highly organized global hunt for talent that includes nurses. International migration is a symptom of the larger systemic problems that make nurses leave their jobs. Nurse mobility becomes a major issue only in a context of migrant exploitation or nursing shortage. Injecting migrant nurses into dysfunctional health systems,ones that are not capable of attracting and retaining staff domestically,will not solve the nursing shortage. [source] Best Practice in Temporary Labour Migration for Development: A Perspective from Asia and the PacificINTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, Issue 5 2009Graeme Hugo The dominant mode of international migration in Asia and the Pacific is temporary contract migration of low-skilled workers. The potential for such migration to deliver significant development dividends to origin communities is substantial because of its large scale and the fact that most migrant workers return to their home community. However, there are a number of barriers that are intervening to dampen these potential positive effects, such as high transaction costs, high costs of sending remittances, and the fact that some areas of origin lack the infrastructure and potential for productive investment. Moreover, destination countries have been very welcoming of high skill temporary migrants but highly restrictive in their attitudes toward their low skill counterparts. This paper discusses the lessons of best practice in temporary labour migration programmes in the region, which can help to overcome these obstacles reducing the positive development impacts of migration. It assesses, in turn, best practice separately for each stage of the labour migration process -- recruitment and selection, and pre-departure preparation -- at the destination and on return. In conclusion, a number of the barriers which impinge on Asian Pacific countries' ability to introduce and sustain best practice are discussed. These include the need for capacity building, lack of cooperation between origin and destination countries, lack of data, poor governance of labour migration a failure among governments to recognise the significance of migration and the need for more "development friendly" migration policies in destinations. [source] Social, Economic and Demographic Consequences of Migration on KeralaINTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, Issue 2 2001K.C. Zachariah Migration has been the single most dynamic factor in the otherwise dreary development scenario of Kerala during the last quarter of the last century. It has contributed more to poverty alleviation and reduction in unemployment in Kerala than any other factor. As a result of migration, the proportion of the population below the poverty line has declined by 12 per cent. The number of unemployed persons , estimated to be only about 13 lakhs in 1998 compared with 37 lakhs reported by the Kerala Employment Exchanges , has declined by over 30 per cent. Migration has caused nearly a million married women in Kerala to live away from their husbands. Most of these so-called "Gulf wives" experienced extreme loneliness to begin with, and were burdened with added family responsibilities to which they had not been accustomed when their husbands were with them. But over a period, and with a helping hand from abroad over the ISD, most came out of their early gloom. Their gain in autonomy, status, management skills and experience in dealing with the world outside their homes were developed the hard way and would remain with them for the rest of their lives for the benefit of their families and society. In the long run, the transformation of these million women will have contributed more to the development of Kerala society than all the temporary euphoria created by remittances and modern gadgetry. Kerala is dependent on migration for employment, subsistence, housing, household amenities, institution building, and many other developmental activities. The danger is that migration could cease, as shown by the Kuwait war of 1993, and repercussions could be disastrous for the State. Understanding migration trends and instituting policies to maintain the flow of migration is more important today than at any time in the past. Kerala workers seem to be losing out in international competition for jobs in the Gulf market. Corrective policies are needed urgently to raise their competitive edge over workers in competing countries in South and South-East Asia. Like any other industry, migration from Kerala needs periodic technological upgrading of workers. Otherwise, there is a danger that the State might lose the Gulf market permanently. The crux of the problem is Kerala workers' inability to compete with expatriates from other South and South-East Asian countries. The solution lies in equipping workers with better general education and job training. This study suggests a twofold approach. In the short run, the need is to improve the job skills of prospective emigrant workers. This could be achieved through ad hoc training programmes focussed on the job market in Gulf countries. In the long run, the need is to restructure the educational system, taking into consideration the future demand of workers not only in Kerala but also in potential destination countries all over the world, including the US and other developed countries. Kerala emigrants need not always be construction workers in the Gulf countries; they could also be software engineers in developed countries. [source] A Country on the Move: International Migration in Post-Communist Albania1INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION REVIEW, Issue 4 2006Calogero Carletto Albania is a country on the move. This mobility plays a key role in household-level strategies to cope with the economic hardship of transition. With the relaxing of controls on emigration at the beginning of the 1990s, international migration has exploded, becoming the single most important political, social, and economic phenomenon in post-communist Albania. Based on the 1989 and 2001 population censuses we estimate that over 600,000 Albanians live abroad, mostly in nearby Greece and Italy, with the vast majority coming from a limited number of districts located at the coastal and transport gateways to these destination countries, as well as Tirana. The available data also suggest that a similar number have considered migrating, and of these, half have tried and failed. Almost one-half of the children who since 1990 no longer live with their parents are now living abroad, a number of almost exodus proportions. This article also identifies clear patterns of temporary migration, with Greece being by far the most important destination and rural areas from the Center and North-East of the country being the primary origins of these flows. Although migration, with the resulting remittances, has become an indispensable part of Albanian economic development, there is increasing consensus on the necessity to devise more appropriate, sustainable strategies to lift households out of poverty and promote the country's growth. [source] The exodus of health professionals from sub-Saharan Africa: balancing human rights and societal needs in the twenty-first centuryNURSING INQUIRY, Issue 2 2007Linda Ogilvie Increased international migration of health professionals is weakening healthcare systems in low-income countries, particularly those in sub-Saharan Africa. The migration of nurses, physicians and other health professionals from countries in sub-Saharan Africa poses a major threat to the achievement of health equity in this region. As nurses form the backbone of healthcare systems in many of the affected countries, it is the accelerating migration of nurses that will be most critical over the next few years. In this paper we present a comprehensive analysis of the literature and argue that, from a human rights perspective, there are competing rights in the international migration of health professionals: the right to leave one's country to seek a better life; the right to health of populations in the source and destination countries; labour rights; the right to education; and the right to nondiscrimination and equality. Creative policy approaches are required to balance these rights and to ensure that the individual rights of health professionals do not compromise the societal right to health. [source] The European Commission on Factors Influencing Labor MigrationPOPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT REVIEW, Issue 2 2001Article first published online: 27 JAN 200 A controversial issue in discussions on enlargement of the European Union beyond its existing membership of 15 countries is the migration flows that admission of new members could generate. Given major differences in income and wage levels between the EU states and the candidates for membership, casual theorizing suggests that the potential for massive international migration is very high. The fact that such migration has thus far been of modest size by most plausible criteria is attributed to the restrictive policies of the potential destination countries, policies that reflect national interests, in particular protection of labor markets, as perceived by voting majorities. With accession to membership in the EU this factor is removed: a cardinal principle of the Union, established by treaty, is the free movement of persons, including persons seeking gainful employment. The factors governing migratory movements between member states then come to resemble those that shape internal migration. This should facilitate analysis and forecasting. A clear sorting-out of the relevant forces affecting such "internal" migration remains of course an essential precondition for success in that task. An "Information note," entitled The Free Movement of Workers in the Context of Enlargement, issued by the European Commission, the EU's Executive Body, on 6 March 2001, presents extensive discussion of relevant information, opinion, and policy options concerning its topic. (The document is available at «http://europa.eu.int/comm/enlarge-ment/docs/pdf/migration_enl.pdf».) An Annex to the document. Factors Influencing Labour Movement, is a lucid enumeration of the factors migration theory considers operative in determining the migration of workers and, by extension, of people at large, that is likely to ensue upon EU enlargement. This annex is reproduced below. As is evident from the catalog of factors and their likely complex interactions, making quantitative forecasts of future migration flows, envisaged primarily as originating from countries to be newly admitted to the EU and destined for the countries of the current EU15, is exceedingly difficult. This is reflected in disparities among the existing studies that have made such forecasts. Yet there appears to be a fair degree of agreement that major increases in migration are unlikely, suggesting that the overall effect on the EU15 labor market should be limited. Typical forecasts (detailed in the Information note cited above) anticipate that in the initial year after admission, taken to be 2003, total migration from the eight prime candidate countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania: the "CC8") might amount to around 200,000 persons, roughly one-third of which would be labor migration. According to these forecasts, the annual flow will gradually diminish in subsequent years. After 10 to 15 years the stock of CC8 migrants in the EU15 might be on the order of 1.8 to 2.7 million. The longer-run migration potential from the candidate countries would be on the order of 1 percent of the present EU population, currently some 375 million. (The combined current population of the CC8 is 74 million.) Such predictions are in line with the relatively minor migratory movements that followed earlier admissions to the EU of countries with then markedly lower per capita incomes, such as Spain and Portugal. The geographic impact of migration ensuing from enlargement would, however, be highly uneven, with Germany and Austria absorbing a disproportionately large share. Accordingly, and reflecting a prevailing expectation in these two countries that enlargement would have some short-run disruptive effects on labor markets, some of the policy options discussed envisage a period of transition following enlargement,perhaps five to seven years,during which migration would remain subject to agreed-upon restrictions. [source] The Economic Situation of First and Second-Generation Immigrants in France, Germany and the United Kingdom,THE ECONOMIC JOURNAL, Issue 542 2010Yann Algan A central concern about immigration is the integration into the labour market, not only of the first generation but also of subsequent generations. Little comparative work exists for Europe's largest economies. France, Germany and the UK have all become, perhaps unwittingly, countries with large immigrant populations albeit with very different ethnic compositions. Today, the descendants of these immigrants live and work in their parents' destination countries. This article presents and discusses comparative evidence on the performance of first and second-generation immigrants in these countries in terms of education, earnings and employment. [source] Organ Trafficking and Transplant Tourism: A Commentary on the Global RealitiesAMERICAN JOURNAL OF TRANSPLANTATION, Issue 5 2008D. A. Budiani-Saberi The extent of organ sales from commercial living donors (CLDs) or vendors has now become evident. At the Second Global Consultation on Human Transplantation of the World Health Organization's (WHO) in March 2007, it was estimated that organ trafficking accounts for 5,10% of the kidney transplants performed annually throughout the world. Patients with sufficient resources in need of organs may travel from one country to another to purchase a kidney (or liver) mainly from a poor person. Transplant centers in ,destination' countries have been well known to encourage the sale of organs to ,tourist' recipients from the ,client' countries. [source] |