EMPIRICAL STUDIES IN LABOUR AND MIGRATION ECONOMICS
Contents
1 Introduction 1
2 An international comparison of earnings inequality and skill distributions 5
2.1 Introduction 5
2.2 Data 8
2.2.1 Some descriptive statistics 11
2.2.2 Mincer earnings regressions 13
2.3 The supply and demand model of skill 14
2.3.1 The empirical model 15
2.4 Results 17
2.4.1 Cognitive skill measures 18
2.4.2 Education and experience 19
2.4.3 The roles of supply and demand 21
2.5 Conclusion 22
Appendix 2.A Additional tables and figures 24
Appendix 2.B Example of supply and demand indices 26 Appendix 2.C Imputation of missing Computer skill scores 28 3 When refugees work: The social capital effects of resettlement on host com-
munities 33
3.1 Introduction 33
3.2 Methodology 37
3.2.1 Design 39
3.2.2 Procedure 42
3.3 Data 45
3.4 Results 47
3.4.1 Relative trust of refugees 48
3.4.2 Survey indicators of social capital 52
vii
3.4.3 Robustness checks 54
3.5 Discussion 57
3.5.1 Evidence for contact theory 57
3.5.2 Refugee characteristics 58
3.5.3 Threats to internal validity 58
3.5.4 Limitation« and implications 60
3.6 Conclusion 61
Appendix 3.A Additional table« and figures 62
Appendix 3.B Instmetions and invitation letter 78 4 Exposure to refugees and attitudes to Immigration 87
4.1 Introduction 87
4.2 Exposure to refugees 91
4.2.1 Institutional background 91
4.2.2 The development of refugee numbers in the Netherlands 92
4.2.3 Three dimensions of exposure 94
4.3 Empirical strategy 98
4.3.1 Identifying assumptions 100
4.3.2 Endogeneity concems 101
4.4 Data 102
4.4.1 Descriptive statistics 104
4.5 Results 107
4.5.1 Close proximity: Exposure at the postcode-level 107 4.5.2 Low proximity: Exposure at the municipality-Ievel 113 4.5.3 Effect heterogeneity by individual characteristics 115 4.5.4 Evidence in favour of the identifying assumptions 115
4.5.5 Robustness checks 117
4.6 Discussion 118
4.7 Conclusion 120
Postscript: The link between Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 121
Appendix 4. A Additional tables and figures 124
Bibliography 139
Summary 147
Samenvatting 151
