New SSRN Immigration Articles

Here are the latest immigration articles from the Social Science Research Network (www.ssrn.com): 

“The Transformers: Immigration and Tacit Knowledge Development” NYU Wagner Research Paper No. 2011-01 NATASHA ISKANDER, New York University (NYU) – Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service; NICHOLA LOWE, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill – Department of Urban Planning.  ABSTRACT:  Knowledge flows associated with international migration and their relationship to economic development have garnered increasing attention. Regardless of whether these accounts focus on “brain drain,” “gain” or “circulation,” they tend to focus narrowly on knowledge acquired through formal education and portray migrants as simply transferring the knowledge they bring with them or obtain in receiving communities. Through a study of Mexican construction workers in Philadelphia and Raleigh-Durham, we challenge this view and draw attention to the significant tacit knowledge immigrants possess. We find that as immigrants move their knowledge from one labor market context to another, they change its form and composition so radically that it is more accurate to say that it is transformed, rather than merely transferred. How they do so, however, depends heavily on their engagement with localized labor market structures, workplace practices, and construction materials. To explain this variance, we draw on Polanyi’s original articulation of tacit knowledge as a relational form involving two interconnected knowledge terms, one implicit and one explicit. We argue that migration can sever and reconfigure the cognitive connection forged between the two terms on which tacit knowledge is based. The result is new knowledge that migrants are able to draw on in order to innovate and improve work processes and practices.

“Convergences and Divergences in International Legal Norms on Migrant Labor” Comparative Labor Law&Policy Journal, Vol. 32, p. 405, 2011 Cornell Legal Studies Research Paper No. 11-02 CHANTAL THOMAS, Cornell Law School.  ABSTRACT:  This essay will argue that even where disparate treaties converge doctrinally, they may diverge normatively and that normative divergence may be significant in its own right. Section II considers the normative implications of divergent rule systems. In particular, Section II raises the question of whether the rise of international criminal law, combating forms of illegal migration such as migrant smuggling and trafficking in persons, may support a normative divergence in international migration law between the primacy of the rights of individuals, on the one hand, and the primacy of states, on the other. This normative tension in turn marks a rift still greater than those between trade and labor, or labor and human rights: it represents the polarities of liberal legalism as a jurisprudential framework ultimately transcending sovereignty, or one that protects and legitimates sovereignty. This kind of normative analysis is, of course, highly stylized. Legal regimes do not stand for only one set of norms, but rather reflect contested and complicated histories. International labor law, for example, harbors tensions between the “economic and the social,” that is to say, an emphasis on particular industrial and workplace contexts versus broader aspirations toward justice. Moreover, even where particular principles predominate, this should not be taken to discount the importance of political economy, self-interested bargaining, and historical contingency in allowing those norms to prevail or in influencing the particular ways in which norms continue to develop and change over time. Finally, a consideration of norms explicitly articulated by the treaties or laws in question does not begin to describe their full effect, and formal principles often create substantive effects sharply at odds with their own terms. The treaty regimes analyzed in this article should be studied not only in terms of their internal complexities but also in their external “realworld” impact. Such an analysis is beyond the scope of this essay. Nevertheless, by mapping the array of international legal regimes across human rights, trade, labor, and crime that affect migration, and in describing some of their prevalent doctrinal and normative characteristics, it is hoped that the article might contribute to emerging scholarship on this topic.  BLOGGER’S NOTE:  I ALWAYS FIND PROFESSOR THOMAS’S SCHOLARSHIP WORTH READING.

“Views of European Races Among the Research Staff of the US Immigration Commission and the Census Bureau, Ca. 1910” Levy Economics Institute Working Paper No. 648 JOEL PERLMANN, Bard College – The Levy Economics Institute.  ABSTRACT:  This paper discusses support for, and opposition to, racial classification of European immigrants among high-level researchers at both the United States Immigration Commission of 1907–11 (the Dillingham Commission) and the Census Bureau during those same years. A critical distinction must be made between the Commission members — political appointees who mostly supported some form of restriction at the time of their appointment — and the top research staff, whose views were remarkably wide ranging. Moreover, even staff members committed to a racialized outlook — such as Daniel Folkmar, author of the Commission’s infamous Dictionary of Races and Peoples — deserve a closer look than historians have given them; for example, Folkmar and his superior on the staff had requested commentary from Franz Boas, who was then emerging as the most prestigious academic critic of racial theories (theories that assume group differences in behavior arise from biological endowments). Another feature of the narrative concerns the surprising number of staff who transferred from the Commission to the Census Bureau to work on the 1910 Census. Debates continued at the Bureau as well, this time over how to present the results of the new “mother tongue” question, which had been introduced to the Census questionnaire in response to pressure for a European “race” question. Indeed, Folkmar was also the chief author of the Census Bureau report on the mother-tongue data.  BLOGGER’S NOTE:  THIS PIECE COVERS A FASCINATING PART OF U.S. IMMIGRATION HISTORY ABOUT WHICH TOO MANY AMERICANS ARE UNAWARE OF.

“An Analysis of the United States Employment Immigration System in Attracting and Retaining Skilled Workers and the Effects of its Dichotomous Objectives – Competitiveness Versus Protectionism: A Case for Reform?” VIGNASWARI SAMINATHAN, affiliation not provided to SSRN.  ABSTRACT:  Over the years, two diametric objectives have emerged within the U.S. employment immigration system: protectionist measures to safeguard or protect the interests of the U.S. workers (which have a corollary purpose of protecting the interest of international workers) and competitive measures to attract and retain highly skilled workers. Currently, the system is out of sync in meeting the needs of the (1) U.S. as a global competitor; (2) domestic industry; (3) U.S. workers; and (4) international workers. The quantitative restraints have led to a decade or more wait for legal permanent residence, which is impeding the U.S. from attracting and retaining highly skilled workers. On the other hand, the U.S.’s global competitors are in the position to offer immediate permanent residency or at least permanent residency within a relatively short period of time. The burgeoning new economies, such as in India and China, have an impact on the flow of immigrants. Already there is evidence of reverse brain drain from the U.S. to these countries, although that flow, at present, may have been exacerbated by the deepening worldwide recession. Further compounding these changes is the looming threat of the world’s aging population. All these developments may heighten the competition for highly skilled workers. Moreover, on the domestic level, dissatisfaction with the competitiveness of the immigration system, which has prevented employers from hiring the necessary skilled workers, has caused some of the leading information technology companies to relocate or outsource their work. This, in turn, has serious repercussion to the U.S. economy, as much needed job creation opportunities are lost at the time when they are most needed. Further, the very mechanism utilized to protect the U.S. workers against wage suppression and adverse working conditions may have the potential to be misused and may adversely affect the interest of the U.S. worker. For instance, even though the hiring of overqualified international workers may be in compliance with the law, it still does have the potential to suppress wages in the long run. As for the international worker, any immigration destination country or home country that can offer long term career and personal advancement, as well as an opportunity to be with family, will likely be attractive. In view of the above, any corrective measure that is undertaken should focus on these two aspects: (1) leveling the playing field between the U.S. workers and international workers by tightening the protectionist measures against wage suppression and adverse working conditions, and (2) liberalizing the quantitative limitation. These would have the effect of ensuring optimal protection for the U.S. workers and the international workers, as well as improving the competitiveness in attracting and retaining highly skilled workers to meet the needs of the domestic industry.

“Do Migrants Improve Their Hometowns? Remittances and Access to Public Services in Mexico, 1995-2000” Comparative Political Studies, Vol. 20, No. 10, September 2010 CLAIRE L. ADIDA, University of California, San Diego (UCSD).  DESHA GIROD, Georgetown University.  ABSTRACT:  How do citizens in developing countries access public services? Scholars study this question by emphasizing the role of government, measuring government performance as household access to public services, such as clean water and sanitation. however, the authors argue that the state does not hold a monopoly on provision of such utilities: citizens in developing countries often turn to nonstate providers of basic utilities. In Mexico, the authors find that direct money transfers from migrants, known as remittances, are used to provide household access to public services. The statistical analysis across Mexico’s 2,438 municipalities demonstrates that citizens improve their own access. The results also contribute new evidence to the literature on remittances and development by offering a micro-level explanation for how remittances affect both the availability and the source of basic utilities. The findings suggest that the measures scholars typically associate with government performance may in fact capture nonstate provision of basic utilities.

 “Canada: Managing Diversity and Social Cohesion under Bill C-50 and Beyond” Managing Diversity and Social Cohesion: the Canadian Experience: Proceedings of the 5th International Conference of Central European Canadianists, Sofia, October 16-18, 2009, pp. 377-386, Brno: Masaryk University, 2010 HRISTINA PETROVA, Independent Researcher in Highly Skilled Immigration.  ABSTRACT:  The recent changes in the Canadian immigration system have led to the development of other programs designed to attract highly skilled immigrants. Bill C-50 was implemented in order to reduce the immigration backlog and match supply with demand on the labour market. Whatever the scheme, there’s one particular group of immigrants whose entry into the country has been encouraged via numerous parallel initiatives – the one of international students. Their retention is strategic because they could be just what Canada needs – young people proficient in the official languages, with Canadian credentials and work experience.

KJ