Sona Kalantaryan | European University Institute (original) (raw)

Labour Migration by Sona Kalantaryan

Publications Office of the European Union, 2020

Member States affected by the COVID-19 pandemic have often resorted to shelter in place orders to... more Member States affected by the COVID-19 pandemic have often resorted to shelter in place orders to stop the virus from spreading widely. These orders have affected many economic activities, but are designed to prevent a shutdown of those essential activities that are meant to keep the population safe and fed. Agriculture is one of those sectors that needs to be kept functional, but mobility restrictions have kept seasonal temporary workers, which this sector has grown reliant on, from reaching their workplace curbing the productivity of this essential sector. This report analyses the potential for the agriculture sector to replace the seasonal workers who are prevented by shelter in place orders from reaching their usual place of work with EU native born workforce. Looking at labour market flows into agriculture in the past decade, this report finds that the probabilities of flows in agriculture are low. Movers into agriculture are mostly migrant men older than 19 living in a rural area and with low qualification. After analysing recent labour market trends, the report concludes that native workers can only partially fill potential vacancies in the sector.

The European Agenda on Migration presented by the European Commission (on 13 May 2015) among its ... more The European Agenda on Migration presented by the European Commission (on 13 May 2015) among its key actions related to the fourth pillar – a new policy on legal migration – suggests the “modernisation and overhaul of the Blue Card scheme”. The weakness of the Blue Card in its current form as a tool to attract and retain talents in Europe is acknowledged and the need for reform is reconfirmed. On 6 June 2016 the European Commission presented a new Proposal (for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals for the purposes of highly-skilled employment). This study aims at presenting the Blue Cards
in terms of its achievements, its prospects with the proposed reforms and gaps that will remain unaddressed after revision.

The study sets out to provide a better understanding of the emerging challenges in policy targeti... more The study sets out to provide a better understanding of the emerging challenges in policy targeting the labour-market integration of refugees. What are the strategies and practices implemented in different EU Member States to facilitate access into employment? What do we know about their effectiveness? What are good practices and lessons learned in different countries?

The study is based on nine detailed country case studies of the following EU Member States: Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. It has been produced by the Migration Policy Centre (MPC) at the European University Institute in Florence.

The objective of this paper is to analyse the role of migrants in innovation in Europe. We use To... more The objective of this paper is to analyse the role of migrants in innovation in Europe. We use Total Factor Productivity as a measure of innovation and focus on the three largest European
countries – France, Germany and the United Kingdom – in the years 1994-2007. Unlike previous research, which mainly employs a regional approach, we analyse the link between
migration and innovation at the sectoral level. This allows us to measure the direct contribution of migrants in the sector in which they are actually employed. Moreover, it allows
a distinction between the real contribution of migrants to innovation from possible intersectoral complementarities, which might as well foster innovation. We control for the different components of human-capital, such as age, education and diversity of origin. To address the possible endogeneity of migration we draw on an instrumental variable strategy originally devised by Card (2001) and adapt it at the sector level. The results show that overall migrants are relevant in all sectors, but some important differences emerge across sectors:
highly-educated migrants show a larger positive effect in the high-tech sectors, while middle and low-educated ones are more relevant in manufacturing. The diversity of countries of
origin contributes to innovation only in the services sectors, confirming that in empirical analyses at the regional or national level the diversity measure might capture the complementarity between sectors rather than the contribution of different national skills.

One of the four priorities of the European Commission in its preparation for the European Agenda ... more One of the four priorities of the European Commission in its preparation for the European Agenda on Migration was to open up “new legal migration channels, including the revision of the ‘Blue Card’ Directive”. This comes after only three years of full implementation of this EU immigration policy instrument (and not even that for some Member States). Meanwhile, in its 2014 Communication on the implementation of the Blue Card Directive, the European Commission had decided not to propose any amendment. However, it should not be forgotten that the Blue Card Directive was not designed primarily for the labour market needs of the EU. Rather, it was run to enhance European competitiveness by attracting highlyqualified
third-country nationals, and this under quite restrictive
conditions of salary and qualifications. As a result there have been only low numbers of beneficiaries to date: 19,000 in 2012 and 2013 for the whole EU. To develop the Blue Card Directive into a true highly-skilled labour-migration management tool able to respond to current and future labour market needs in Europe, would mean changes in scope, conditions and implementation modalities by Member States

Migration by Sona Kalantaryan

Migration Studies, 2022

This study investigates the relationship between Internet access and migration aspirations and in... more This study investigates the relationship between Internet access and migration aspirations and intentions in Africa. While empirical evidence on the role of telecommunications in shaping migration flows is increasing, the relationship between aspirations (desire to migrate) and intentions (migration preparation) has been paid little attention. The analysis is based on the nationally representative 2014 and 2015 surveys of Gallup World Poll in 29 African countries. We modelled migration desire and migration preparation through Probit and Heckman Probit models. The results indicate that having Internet access is positively associated with the desire to move abroad and preparations to migrate once controlling for the socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents. The association is higher in the case of migration preparation than in the case of migration desire. Slightly diverse effects are documented in low-and lower-middle-income countries, where the effect of Internet access on migration desire is somewhat higher than in the sample as a whole.

This report examines different forms of diaspora finance around the world. Diaspora finance invol... more This report examines different forms of diaspora finance around the world. Diaspora finance involves remittances, understood as inter-personal financial transfers between migrants and their countries of origin, and diaspora investment, defined as asset-producing financial instruments through which diasporas (migrants and their descendants) can invest in organisations in their country of origin. There is an extensive body of research and data on remittances sent by migrants, the annual flows of which are now larger in aggregate than either official development assistance (ODA) or foreign direct investment (FDI). But much less is known about diaspora investment, or about how remittances and diaspora investment can be effectively channelled to support development. We identify over 300 diaspora finance initiatives through a systematic review of over 500 research, policy and grey literature documents. The study highlights the broad diversity of diaspora finance mechanisms around the world, while also drawing attention to the lack of systematic international data on diaspora investment flows and to the severe shortage of quality evidence on the development outcomes of different diaspora finance initiatives.

Publications Office of the European Union, 2020

In 2019, there were an estimated 1.8 billion people aged 15-29 in the world population. As these ... more In 2019, there were an estimated 1.8 billion people aged 15-29 in the world population. As these people grow up, entering social and economic independence along the way, they will potentially reshape economies, politics and social relations around the world. International initiatives have also put the importance of young people centre-stage for
sustainable development in the future, but the knowledge-base on migration patterns of young people around the world is lacking. With this in mind, this report examines youth and migration globally, in Africa and in the European Union. Specifically, we a) define the concepts of youth and youth migration; b) map demographic trends globally and in Europe
to highlight where youth populations are growing or declining; and c) describe migration trends to show which young people are moving, where and why.

This study looks at the relationship between housing values (prices and rents) and the residentia... more This study looks at the relationship between housing values (prices and rents) and the residential settlement of migrants in different neighbourhoods in Italian provincial capitals. We exploit here the high spatial resolution dataset on the settlement of migrants developed within the Data for Integration (D4I) project. The D4I information on resident population characteristics was merged with a dataset on housing values for civilian and economic residential units using boundaries defined by local housing market characteristics. The results suggest that: (1) more diverse neighbourhoods are also those with relatively lower housing values; (2) the relationship between housing values and the concentration of migrants is non-linear; and (3) the sign and significance of the association varies significantly depending on the origin of migrants.

COVID-19 and Remittances in Africa, 2020

This report examines the potential impact of Covid-19 on remittances and development in different... more This report examines the potential impact of Covid-19 on remittances and development in different African countries. The World Bank has forecast an unprecedented fall in remittances for 2020, removing a major source of income for many African countries and affecting their capacity to respond to and recover from the crisis. But it is unlikely to hit all countries and populations in the same way. This report shows in which countries people depend on remittances to get by, and where this dependence intersects with existing economic hardship and digital and financial exclusion. It does so through an analysis of macro-economic indicators (remittance flows and their relation to GDP) and the 2016-2018 Afrobarometer survey, which produces nationally representative samples of public opinion for 34 African countries.

In this study we examine the integration of immigrants born in selected non-EU countries (China, ... more In this study we examine the integration of immigrants born in selected non-EU countries (China, Ecuador, India, Iran, Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey, Russia, Ukraine) living in France, Germany, Italy,
Spain, Sweden and the UK. The units of analysis are the so-called migrant corridors, i.e. a migrant community x in a destination country y. A multidimensional perspective is adopted by focusing on their integration in the following three domains: labour market, education and access to citizenship.
Our aim is to compare the level of integration of migrant corridors by dimension. Drawing on relevant micro-datasets, a set of basic integration indicators were identified for each dimension. Using the Principal Component Analysis technique, these basic indicators were synthesized into composite
indicators, thus allowing for ranking migrant corridors both in terms of their absolute performances and compared with native outcomes.

In this study I empirically examine the impact of immigration on the dynamics of housing prices a... more In this study I empirically examine the impact of immigration on the dynamics of housing prices across Italian provinces from 1996 till 2007. The massive debate upon the impact of current intensive immigration flows on the wellbeing of the native Italian population and Europeans in general is mainly focused on labor market outcomes which is, however, only one of the channels though which the real income and wealth can alter. This paper contributes to our understanding of the influence that recent intensive immigration flows have on the Italian economy by estimating its impact on the housing market. Moreover, it exploits different methodological approach with respect to the approach dominating in migration literature. Using the number of valid residence permits as a measure of immigration stock and the self-reported housing values from the Survey of Households Income Wealth in Italy I find that the increase in the concentration of immigrants in the Italian provinces has a positive but declining effect on the average housing prices in provinces. The obtained results also indicate that an increase of in immigrant population leads to an increase in average housing prices. The performed Difference and System GMM estimations confirm both the positive response of average housing prices to the increase in immigrant population and the non-linearity of its response to immigrants’ concentration in all specifications.

Housing Market by Sona Kalantaryan

The state of development of rental markets as a genuine alternative to home-ownership stands out ... more The state of development of rental markets as a genuine alternative to home-ownership stands out as a particularly relevant institutional factor shaping the outcome of the housing market and playing a balancing role and alleviating house price pressures. This is especially the case when it
proves to be an affordable platform for young and low-income households, providing them with a viable alternative to a hasty first step into the property ladder. In order to help policymakers
develop a sizeable private rental market acting as an ttenuating factor of housing prices volatility, it is important to depict the relevant dimensions of the rental market regulation and
assess their likely impact on the aggregate housing market. Against this background, this paper first develops a two- dimensional indicator on rental market regulation, covering for rent controls and the tenant-landlord relationship. The resulting indices are put to the test by assessing their impact on housing prices. According to this analysis, an efficient, fair and swift judicial system appears as a necessary step towards unlocking rental markets full potential. Moreover, rent controls appear to have a significant destabilizing impact on the aggregate housing market, increasing the volatility of house prices when confronted with different shocks. Finally, qualitative
aspects of the tenancy contract negotiation do not have a first-hand impact on housing market dynamics.

Publications Office of the European Union, 2020

Migration Studies, 2022

Publications Office of the European Union, 2020

COVID-19 and Remittances in Africa, 2020

Link: https://blogs.eui.eu/migrationpolicycentre/turkey-and-the-eu-consensus-or-contention/

Publications Office of the European Union, 2020

Review of Income and Wealth

Oxford Scholarship Online

This chapter provides an extensive review of the existing empirical literature that analyses the ... more This chapter provides an extensive review of the existing empirical literature that analyses the impact of (mostly high-skilled) migration on the innovative performances of firms, regions, and countries. The authors discuss the different features of the immigrant labour force, such as education, occupation, age, and internal ethnic diversity, that play a role in the contribution of immigrants to innovation. By categorizing the existing studies on the basis of the definition of innovation and migration that they adopt, as well as on the specific level of analysis chosen (at the firm, regional, or country level), the chapter also engages in an in-depth discussion about the policy implications that can be drawn from the existing evidence. Finally, the chapter outlines some suggestions about the implementation of appropriate immigration policies, able to truly foster innovation in European countries.

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000

One of the four priorities of the European Commission in its preparation for the European Agenda ... more One of the four priorities of the European Commission in its preparation for the European Agenda on Migration was to open up “new legal migration channels, including the revision of the ‘Blue Card’ Directive”. This comes after only three years of full implementation of this EU immigration policy instrument (and not even that for some Member States). Meanwhile, in its 2014 Communication on the implementation of the Blue Card Directive, the European Commission had decided not to propose any amendment. However, it should not be forgotten that the Blue Card Directive was not designed primarily for the labour market needs of the EU. Rather, it was run to enhance European competitiveness by attracting highlyqualified third-country nationals, and this under quite restrictive conditions of salary and qualifications. As a result there have been only low numbers of beneficiaries to date: 19,000 in 2012 and 2013 for the whole EU. To develop the Blue Card Directive into a true highly-skilled labour-migration management tool able to respond to current and future labour market needs in Europe, would mean changes in scope, conditions and implementation modalities by Member States

Migrant Integration between Homeland and Host Society Volume 1 Where Does the Country of Origin Fit?, 2017

This book provides a theoretical framing to analyse and examine the interaction between origin an... more This book provides a theoretical framing to analyse and examine the interaction between origin and destination in the migrant integration process. Coverage offers a set of concrete conceptual tools, which can be operationalised when measuring integration. This title is the first of two complementary volumes, each of which is designed to stand alone and provide a different approach to the topic. Here, the chapters offer a detailed look at integration across eight key areas: labour, education, language and culture, civic and political participation, housing, social ties, religion, and access to citizenship. Readers are presented with an examination into the globally available knowledge on interactions between emigration/diaspora policies on one hand and integration policies on the other. Migrants actively belong to two places: the land they left behind and the home they are seeking to build. This book gives an insightful argument for the need to include information about countries and communities of origin when examining integration, which is often overlooked. It will appeal to academics, policymakers, integration practitioners, civil society organisations, as well as students.Overall, the chapters establish a cohesive analytical framework to this important topic. 1: Introduction: Integration as a three-way process: Anna Unterreiner, Agnieszka Weinar.- 2: Immigrant assimilation in the labour market: what is missing in economic literature: Alessandra Venturini.- 3: Country of origin effects and impacts on educational attainment of pupils with migrant backgrounds. Towards a new research agenda: Dirk Jacobs and Anne Unterreiner.- 4: Language acquisition and cultural integration: Alexandra Filhon.- 5: Political and civic participation of immigrants in host countries. An interpretative framework from the perspective of the origin countries and societies: Lorenzo Gabrielli, Sonia GSIR, Ricard Zapata-Barrero.- 6: Residential Integration - Towards A Sending Country Perspective: Sona Kalantaryan, Ben Gidley, Maria Luisa Caputo.- 7: Do countries of origin contribute to socio-cultural integration of migrants abroad? Sonia Gsir.- 8: Religion and Diasporas: Challenges of the Emigration countries: Jocelyn Cesari.- 9: Access to Citizenship and the Role of Origin Countries: Maarten Peter Vink, Tijana Prokic-Breuer, Jaap Dronkers.- 10: Governance of integration and the role of the countries of origin - a global perspective: Agnieszka Weinar, Maria Vincenza Desiderio, Cameron Thibos.

The objective of this paper is to analyse the role of migrants in innovation in Europe. We use To... more The objective of this paper is to analyse the role of migrants in innovation in Europe. We use Total Factor Productivity as a measure of innovation and focus on the three largest European countries – France, Germany and the United Kingdom – in the years 1994-2007. Unlike previous research, which mainly employs a regional approach, we analyse the link between migration and innovation at the
sectoral level. This allows us to measure the direct contribution of migrants in the sector in which they are actually employed. Moreover, it allows a distinction between the real contribution of migrants to
innovation from possible inter-sectoral complementarities, which might as well foster innovation. We control for the different components of human-capital, such as age, education and diversity of origin.
To address the possible endogeneity of migration we draw on an instrumental variable strategy
originally devised by Card (2001) and adapt it at the sector level The results show that overall migrants are relevant in all sectors, but some important differences emerge across sectors: highlyeducated
migrants show a larger positive effect in the high-tech sectors, while middle- and loweducated ones are more relevant in manufacturing. The diversity of countries of origin contributes to innovation only in the services sectors, confirming that in empirical analyses at the regional or national level the diversity measure might capture the complementarity between sectors rather than the contribution of different national skills. This implies that the diversity should not guide the migration policy which instead should be linked to the specific demand for labour of firms and not to pursue a generic search for highly skilled migrants.

Political and scientific debates on migration policies have mostly focused on governments' effort... more Political and scientific debates on migration policies have mostly focused on governments' efforts to control or reduce low-skilled, asylum, and irregular migration or to encourage the return migration of these categories. Less research and constructive discourse has been conducted on the role and effectiveness of policies to attract or retain high-skilled workers. An improved understanding of the drivers and dynamics of high-skilled migration is essential for effective policy-making, as most highly developed and emerging economies experience growing shortages of high-skilled labour supply in certain occupations and sectors, and skilled immigration is often viewed as one way of addressing these.

Simplistic assumptions that high-skilled migrants are primarily in pursuit of higher wages raise the expectation that policies which open channels for high-skilled immigration are generally successful. Although many countries have introduced policies aimed at attracting and facilitating the recruitment of high-skilled workers, not all recruitment efforts have had the desired effects, and anecdotal evidence on the effectiveness of these programmes is rather mixed. The reason is that the rather narrow focus on migration policy coincides with a lack of systematic and rigorous consideration of other economic, social, and political drivers of migration, which may be equally - or sometimes even more - important than migration policies per se. A better understanding of migration policies, their making, consequences and limitations, requires a systematic knowledge of the broader economic, social and political structures and their interaction in both origin and destination countries.

This book enhances this vibrant field of social scientific enquiry by providing a systematic, multidisciplinary, and global analysis of policies driving international high-skilled migration processes in their interaction with other migration drivers at the individual, city, national, and international level.

Publications Office of the European Union, 2021

Remittances represent an important tool for economic growth and poverty alleviation by ensuring a... more Remittances represent an important tool for economic growth and poverty alleviation by ensuring a flow of financial resources from migrants and diasporas to households and communities in origin countries. Remittances can potentially be particularly significant as
a connection between diasporas and communities of origin, a resource for development and a means to respond to and recover from crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. With this in mind, this report examines the sources, scale and significance of international remittances for Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia over time and in the context of COVID19. It also discusses, to the extent that it is possible with currently available data, remittances in Libya. In doing so, the report highlights how these North African countries are quite distinct from one another in terms of the sources, scale and significance of their remittances. This potentially has implications for the way that remittances impact on development and poverty alleviation in each receiving country and the way that policies should be shaped to accommodate and respond to their differences.

Publications Office of the European Union, 2020

In early 2020, the European Commission proposed a series of new partnerships with Africa, address... more In early 2020, the European Commission proposed a series of new partnerships with Africa, addressing the Green Transition and Energy Access, Digital Transformation, Sustainable Growth and Jobs, Peace, Security and Governance, and Migration and Mobility. Understanding the views of young people from across the African continent will be vital to building these partnerships. Africa has the youngest population structure and the fastest growing youth population of all continents, and youth will continue to be an important dimension for relations between Europe and Africa in the future. In this context, this report asks what the opinions are of young Africans on a range of salient topics and what this can mean for sustainable development and relations between Africa and the European Union. The focus here is on: (1) Climate change, (2) Digital infrastructure and information access, (3) Governance, in particular political participation, trust in institutions and corruption, and (4) Gender equality. We examine these with data from the Afrobarometer public opinion survey in 34 countries.

Publications Office of the European Union, 2020

Youth is a cross-cutting priority for the European Union and is particularly important for the St... more Youth is a cross-cutting priority for the European Union and is particularly important for the Strategy with Africa and the European Consensus on Development. Against this backdrop, this report presents findings from a project examining the opinions of young Africans on a range of topics. The focus here is on the primary concerns of people aged between 18 and 35 years of age, analysing data from the Afrobarometer survey from 34 countries. Specifically, we examine the question: In your opinion, what are the most important problems facing this country that government should address? This analysis of
the most important problems of young people in Africa provides a broad picture of the salience of different issues for different groups and countries.

The present study provides a comprehensive analysis of the information and communication channels... more The present study provides a comprehensive analysis of the information and communication channels that migrants use upon their arrival in Italy, and which may help determine their secondary movements. The pages that follow present findings drawn from surveys and interviews and focus groups carried out in Italy with 686 migrants (including irregular migrants, asylum seekers, and migrants who qualified for refugee status, humanitarian protection or subsidiary protection) during the second half of 2017. These findings are followed by recommendations involving the development of more effective mechanisms for migration information dissemination and for awareness-raising campaigns for migrants within the context of the EU’s Action Plan against Migrant Smuggling.