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Capital-Skill Complementarity and the Immigration Surplus

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Author Info
Michael Ben-Gad (University of Haifa)

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Abstract

We build a neo-classical growth model with overlapping dynasties and capital-skill complementarities to evaluate changes in immigration policy. Calibrating the model using U.S. data, we quantify the differential effects of skilled and unskilled immigration on factor returns and on the welfare of different sectors of the population. An influx of high-skilled immigrants lowers the wages of skilled workers, raises the wages of unskilled workers, and because of the relative complementarity between capital and skilled labor, substantially raises the rate of return to native-owned capital. By contrast, an influx of unskilled immigrants produces an opposite effect on wages, and has only a negligible effect on the return to capital. Because of capital skill-complementarity, an increase in the number of skilled immigrants generates an immigration surplus---the overall welfare benefit accruing to the native population---that is approximately ten times larger than the immigration surplus generated by an identical increase in the number of unskilled immigrants. This differential welfare effect is far higher than can be accounted for by the disparity between the productivities of each type of worker. (Copyright: Elsevier)

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File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.red.2007.08.001
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Article provided by Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics in its journal Review of Economic Dynamics.

Volume (Year): 11 (2008)
Issue (Month): 2 (April)
Pages: 335-365
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Handle: RePEc:red:issued:05-134

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Related research
Keywords: Immigration Capital-skill complementarity Overlapping dynasties

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
E69 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Other
J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
O41 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - One, Two, and Multisector Growth Models

References listed on IDEAS
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  1. Chiswick, Carmel U. & Chiswick, Barry R. & Karras, Georgios, 1992. "The impact of immigrants on the macroeconomy," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 279-316, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Lindquist, Matthew, 2001. "Capital-Skill Complementarity and Inequality in Swedish Industry," Research Papers in Economics 2001:2, Stockholm University, Department of Economics, revised 05 Mar 2003. [Downloadable!]
  3. Chiswick, Carmel U, 1989. "The Impact of Immigration on the Human Capital of Natives," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 7(4), pages 464-86, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Griliches, Zvi, 1969. "Capital-Skill Complementarity," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 51(4), pages 465-68, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Ben-Gad, Michael, 2004. "The economic effects of immigration--a dynamic analysis," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 28(9), pages 1825-1845, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Linnea Polgreen & Pedro Silos, 2005. "Capital-skill complementarity and inequality: a sensitivity analysis," Working Paper 2005-20, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. [Downloadable!]
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  7. Kjetil Storesletten, . "Sustaining Fiscal Policy Through Immigration," Homapage Papers _005, Stockholm University, Institute for International Economic Studies. [Downloadable!]
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  8. George J. Borjas, 1994. "The Economic Benefits from Immigration," NBER Working Papers 4955, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  9. Per Krusell & Lee E. Ohanian & JosÈ-Victor RÌos-Rull & Giovanni L. Violante, 2000. "Capital-Skill Complementarity and Inequality: A Macroeconomic Analysis," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 68(5), pages 1029-1054, September.
    Other versions:
  10. Galor, Oded, 1986. "Time preference and international labor migration," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 1-20, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Berndt, Ernst R & Christensen, Laurits R, 1974. "Testing for the Existence of a Consistent Aggregate Index of Labor Inputs," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 64(3), pages 391-404, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Jan Skaksen & Anders Sorensen, 2005. "Capital-Skill Complementarity and Rigid Relative Wages: Inference from the Business Cycle," Contributions to Macroeconomics, Berkeley Electronic Press, vol. 5(1), pages 1145-1145. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. George J. Borjas, 1994. "The Economics of Immigration," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 32(4), pages 1667-1717, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Denny, Michael & Fuss, Melvyn A, 1977. "The Use of Approximation Analysis to Test for Separability and the Existence of Consistent Aggregates," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 67(3), pages 404-18, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Djajic, Slobodan, 1989. "Skills and the Pattern of Migration: The Role of Qualitative and Quantitative Restrictions on International Labor Mobility," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 30(4), pages 795-809, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. George J. Borjas, 2003. "The Labor Demand Curve is Downward Sloping: Reexamining the Impact of Immigration on the Labor Market," NBER Working Papers 9755, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  17. Ben-Gad, Michael, 2003. "Fiscal policy and indeterminacy in models of endogenous growth," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 108(2), pages 322-344, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. King, Robert G. & Plosser, Charles I. & Rebelo, Sergio T., 1988. "Production, growth and business cycles : I. The basic neoclassical model," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(2-3), pages 195-232. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Michael Ben-Gad, 2008. "Analyzing Economic Policy Using High Order Perturbations," City University Economics Discussion Papers 08/07, Department of Economics, City University, London. [Downloadable!]
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