Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP5891
Authors: jeffrey g williamson
Abstract: Within-country ethnic diversity in high-wage immigrant nations is driven by long distance migration. This paper documents the migration-diversity connection for the first global century before 1914 and the second global century after 1950. It distinguishes between ethnic diversity among the foreign-born, between the foreign-born and nativeborn and for total populations using country-of-birth data. It exploits the polarization index made popular in the recent diversity-growth debate and exploits an emigration life cycle model to predict the connection. It also shows how policy matters.
Keywords: emigrant life cycle; ethnic diversity; migration
JEL Codes: J6; N3
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| long-distance migration (F22) | ethnic diversity (J15) |
| higher wages in receiving regions (J31) | long-distance migration (F22) |
| long-distance migration (F22) | increased ethnic diversity (J15) |
| wage differentials (J31) | long-distance migration (F22) |
| economic development in sending countries (F24) | migration patterns (F22) |
| migration patterns (F22) | ethnic diversity (J15) |
| declining quality of immigrants (J11) | rising anti-immigration sentiment (K37) |
| rising immigration rates (J11) | overall ethnic diversity in the U.S. (J15) |