This paper considers a setting in which the acquisition of human capital entails a change of location in social space that causes individuals to revise their comparison groups. Skill levels are viewed as occupational groups, and moving up the skill ladder by acquiring additional human capital,...

This paper studies the growth dynamics of a developing country under migration. Assuming that human capital formation is subject to a strong enough, positive intertemporal externality, the prospect of migration will increase growth in the home country in the long run. If the external effect is...

This paper identifies the migration policies that emerge when both the sending country and the receiving country wield power to set migration quotas, when controlling migration is costly, and when the decision how much human capital to acquire depends, among other things, on the migration...

This paper develops a model of voluntary migration into degrading work. The essence of the model is a tension between two bads that which arises from being relatively deprived at home, and that which arises from engaging in humiliating work away from home. Balancing between these two bads can...

We ask which migration policy a developed country will choose when its objective is to attain the optimal skill composition of the country's workforce, and when the policy menu consists of an entry fee and a quota. We compare these two policies under the assumptions that individuals are...

Leere Haushaltskassen verleiten die politisch Verantwortlichen schnell dazu, am Kulturetat zu sparen. Das könnte sich als kontraproduktiv erweisen, denn kulturelle Angebote steigern das regionale Wirtschaftswachstum. Eine aktuelle Studie des ifo Instituts, die zusammen mit der Universität Jena...

Das ifo Institut hat zusammen mit dem Personaldienstleister Randstad im 4. Quartal 2015 Personalleiter von 1 163 Unternehmen nach ihrer Absicht gefragt, in diesem oder im kommenden Jahr Flüchtlinge einzustellen. 34% der Personalleiter können sich demnach vorstellen, 2016 oder ab 2017...

Parents who experience poverty and who want to provide their children with an escape route can be expected to encourage and support their progeny's education. The evidence that Roma parents behave differently is unsettling. In this paper we test empirically an explanation for that behavior. The...

Parents who experience poverty and who want to provide their children with an escape route can be expected to encourage and support their progeny's education. The evidence that Roma parents behave differently is unsettling. In this paper we test empirically an explanation for that behavior. The...