International Migration, Self‐Selection, and the Distribution of Wages: Evidence from Mexico and the United States

Abstract

Abstract. In this paper, we use data from the Mexico and U.S. population censuses to examine who migrates from Mexico to the United States and how the skills and economic performance of these individuals compare to those who remain in Mexico. We test Borjas' negative-selection hypothesis that in poor countries the individuals with the strongest incentive to migrate to rich countries are those with relatively low skill levels. We find that 1) Mexican immigrants, while much less educated than U.S. natives, are on average more educated than residents of Mexico, and 2) were Mexican immigrants in the United States to be paid according to current skill prices in Mexico they would tend to occupy the middle and upper portions of Mexico's wage distribution. These results are inconsistent with the negative-selection hypothesis and suggest, instead, that in terms of observable skills there is intermediate or positive selection of immigrants from Mexico. The results also suggest that migration abroad may raise wage inequality in Mexico.

Fertility in the context of Mexican migration to the United States

“…Results from Table 3 reveal that the Mexican immigrants were not negatively selected in terms of education. In fact, in line with the findings of Chiquar and Hanson (2005) and Feliciano (2005), my results showed the opposite. For instance, just over half of Mexican immigrants had fewer than 10 years of education, compared with 63% of non-migrants living in urban areas and 86% of nonmigrants living in rural areas in Mexico.…”

“…Disagreements about the role of educational selectivity in generating the high levels of Mexican immigrant fertility have arisen because scholars cannot reach a consensus about the degree of educational selectivity. Some researchers have argued that Mexican immigrants are negatively selected with respect to education (Ibarran and Lubotsky 2007;Telles and Ortiz 2008), whereas others have argued that Mexican immigrants are positively selected in terms of education (Chiquar and Hanson 2005;Feliciano 2005). …”

Gender and migration from Albania

“…Despite disputes that remain regarding the relationship between origin-country inequality and migration ( Borjas 1987( Borjas , 1991Chiswick 2000), most scholars argue that migrants are positively selected on various characteristics, including education (Chiquiar and Hanson 2005;Feliciano 2005; McKenzie and Rapoport 2007). What has not been suf ciently studied, however, is whether the educational selectivity in migration is different for men and women (Feliciano 2008).…”

Migration and Welfare Systems – State of the Art and Research Challenges

“…In over 15 years since Borjas published his work, there were many attempts to extend his model. One of them, by Chiquiar and Hanson (2005), introduced a skill level-dependant migration cost, and selection with respect to schooling. Their model can be used to explain why Mexican migrants in the United States are modestly, but not very highly educated.…”