Does Migration Increase Wage Rates?

An Analysis of Alternative Techniques for Measuring Wage Gains to Migration

Julie DaVanzo, James Hosek

ResearchPublished 1981

To estimate the wage gains to migration, migrants' post-migration wages should be compared with what the migrants would have earned had they not moved (their "counterfactual" wages), and not with the wages of apparently similar nonmigrants. This Note uses a "regression switching" model that enables one to make the appropriate comparison. Data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics are used to compare the results of the regression switching model with those derived from the usual migrant/nonmigrant comparison. The Note examines two alternative dependent variables for measuring the wage gains to migration: the wage rate at the end of the migration interval, and the difference between wage rates before and after the migration interval.

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  • Copyright: RAND Corporation
  • Availability: Available
  • Year: 1981
  • Print Format: Paperback
  • Paperback Pages: 79
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  • Document Number: N-1582-NICHD

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RAND Style Manual
DaVanzo, Julie and James Hosek, Does Migration Increase Wage Rates? : An Analysis of Alternative Techniques for Measuring Wage Gains to Migration, RAND Corporation, N-1582-NICHD, 1981. As of September 26, 2024: https://www.rand.org/pubs/notes/N1582.html
Chicago Manual of Style
DaVanzo, Julie and James Hosek, Does Migration Increase Wage Rates? : An Analysis of Alternative Techniques for Measuring Wage Gains to Migration. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 1981. https://www.rand.org/pubs/notes/N1582.html. Also available in print form.
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