GONZALEZ LOZANO, HERIBERTO
(2014)
ESSAYS ON MEXICAN MIGRATION.
Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
In this dissertation I study different aspects of the Mexican migration to the United States. First, I introduce one of the most complete sources of information of Mexican migrants in the United States, the Survey of Migration to the Northern Border. Then I study the selectivity of Mexican migration. I test Borjas' 1987 negative selection hypothesis which states that individuals migrating from states with more unequal income distribution and higher returns to education will be more negatively selected. I analyze the degree of selectivity of immigrants by exploiting the variation in returns to education and income inequality across Mexican states over time. I use Borjas' selection model to infer worker's unobservable skills. The results support Borjas' hypothesis, there is evidence of negative selection in terms of years of schooling and unobservable skills. Moreover, I predict the wages in the United States of recently arrived migrants and find that higher income inequality is associated with lower observable skills.
One channel through which migration may reduce poverty is by enhancing the asset positions and productivity levels of poor households, either via remittances, savings, and human capital accumulation. In this dissertation I assess the impact of return migration on self-employment exploiting the variation in return migration rates to different states of Mexico. I predict return migration to different Mexican states by using past migration patterns and use these predicted rates as instruments for return migration avoiding potential endogeneity issues. The results show that return migration exerted a positive but small impact on the probability of self-employment in Mexico between 1999 and 2010.
In recent years, Mexico has experienced a dramatic surge in homicides driven by the violent struggle between and within criminal organizations to control the drug trade business. In the last chapter I study the effect of drug-violence on the outflows of migrants from Mexico to the United States. The results show that individuals from Western and Southern Mexico are more likely to change their migratory behavior in response to changes in violence. Violence increases migration rates from Western Mexico but decreases migration rates from Southern Mexico.
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Details
| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
|
| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
| Creators | Email | Pitt Username | ORCID  |
|---|
| GONZALEZ LOZANO, HERIBERTO | heg14@pitt.edu | HEG14 | |
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| ETD Committee: |
|
| Date: |
31 January 2014 |
| Date Type: |
Publication |
| Defense Date: |
26 August 2013 |
| Approval Date: |
31 January 2014 |
| Submission Date: |
5 December 2013 |
| Access Restriction: |
No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately. |
| Number of Pages: |
118 |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > Economics |
| Degree: |
PhD - Doctor of Philosophy |
| Thesis Type: |
Doctoral Dissertation |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
Migration, Selectivity, Self-employment, Return Migration, Violence, Mexico |
| Date Deposited: |
31 Jan 2014 15:26 |
| Last Modified: |
15 Nov 2016 14:16 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/20208 |
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