Immigration Diversity Research Articles

Immigrant diversity, integration and worker productivity: uncovering the mechanisms behind ‘diversity spillover’ effects

Abstract A growing body of research is demonstrating a robust positive relationship between the diversity of a city’s foreign-born population in the USA and worker productivity. Other research has focused on diversity within firms, similarly finding positive effects in many cases. Although it appears that diverse teams within firms are better at problem-solving and are more creative, the exact mechanism(s) that drive the relationship between diversity and productivity at the scale of city-regions are less apparent and underexplored in extant research. Drawing on research from several fields, I describe four mechanisms that might drive the relationship between immigrant diversity and productivity at the urban level. I explore each mechanism with a pseudo panel of workers and fixed effects OLS regressions across U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas between 2011 and 2017. The results most strongly support that at the urban level, diversity enhances productivity through what I call ‘exposure effects’ and ‘interactive problem-solving’, wherein workers become more productive and more creative through exposure to new cultures and ways of thinking and through joint problem-solving. These results suggest that positive externalities arise when coupling rising immigrant diversity with the social integration of people from diverse backgrounds.

“Alone in a Crowd: Indigenous Migrants and Language Barriers in American Immigration”

Indigenous migrants in American custody often speak neither English nor Spanish. This leaves them at risk for family separation, deportation and due process violations. In this article, I discuss the challenges which indigenous migrants face in American immigration. Examining linguistic variations, this manuscript illustrates that American immigration policies have not adjusted to the linguistic diversity at the border—or in the immigration courts. Despite the growing number of indigenous migrants seeking asylum, most are assumed to speak only Spanish. This assumption neglects the wide linguistic diversity of immigrants and directly impacts their experience through the immigration bureaucracy. For indigenous migrants, linguicism or the exclusion of native languages can have life or death consequences—especially if they are unable to secure interpreters or relay crucial aspects of their case. As such, linguicism perpetuates an unequal justice system which fails to provide an understanding of the asylum process for those who speak indigenous languages.

Immigration diversity and regional economic growth

The present paper empirically examines the impact of international immigration on the growth of Italian provinces over the period 2003–2017 by analysing the impact of two main components of international immigration: the share and the diversity of immigrants. The main findings reveal that increases in birthplace fractionalisation and in the share of immigration significantly fostered output per capita. Moreover, we investigate whether the economic effects of these two dimensions of international immigration differ across Centre-North and South provinces. The analyses indicate that in the high-income Central-Northern provinces, both dimensions of immigration lead to benefits in terms of economic growth, while in the South, where there is still a lower socio-economic and institutional level of development, only the size effect related to the share of immigration seems to have growth-enhancing effects. In contexts characterised by a strong internal dualism, such findings are especially relevant as they give evidence of self-reinforcing dynamics, which contribute to further widening internal disparities.

Does Assimilation Shape the Economic Value of Immigrant Diversity?

abstract A growing literature has shown that greater diversity among immigrants offers material benefits in terms of higher wages and productivity. One limitation of existing work is that it has considered immigrants from a given country to be homogenous. However, immigrants differ in various ways, not least in their level of assimilation. This article considers how assimilation might shape diversity’s economic effects. Intuition suggests two conflicting dynamics. Assimilation could lower barriers immigrants and natives face in interacting with one another, and thus enhance benefits. Equally, however, assimilation could reduce heuristic differences between immigrants and native-born workers, dampening spillovers from diversity. We use linked employer–employee data from Norway to test these ideas. We construct diversity indices at the regional and workplace scale to capture different aspects of assimilation, and observe how these are related to worker productivity, proxied using wages. We find that assimilation dampens externalities from immigrant diversity. Diversity among second-generation or childhood migrants offers smaller benefits than diversity in teenage or adult arrivals. Immigrants’ cultural proximity to Norway, and their experience of tertiary education in Norway, each also reduce the social return to diversity. While assimilation processes may benefit society in various ways, these findings are consistent with the idea that, by diminishing the heuristic gaps between migrants and native-born workers, integration reduces the productivity externalities derived from immigrant diversity.

Secularism, intercultural openness, and reasonable accommodation: the perspectives of francophones and anglophones living in south-eastern Quebec

Some studies suggest that religion is becoming a salient marker of immigrant identity. The protective impulse by western democracies to defend secularism can thus act as a barrier to immigrant integration. Given its legislative stance on secularism, Quebec affords a unique opportunity to study the interplay of attitudes and political culture on host community openness to cultural diversity. Surveying 395 south-eastern Quebec mother-tongue French and English participants, we found that though the former deemed ethnic and religious targets as more open to close social contact than the latter, they were less accommodating of diversity. Their perceptions of religious target openness overshadowed their views of ethnic targets, thereby registering less accommodating attitudes while confirming their perception of religion as a salient marker of immigrant diversity. Contextualizing a social-psychological analysis of attitudes toward immigration seems relevant when seen through two linguistic groups differently related to the historical unfolding of modern Quebec.

Leveraging regional immigration and immigration diversity for financing crowdfunding projects

ABSTRACT The study focuses on the role of regional immigration and immigration diversity in influencing entrepreneurs’ ability to crowdfund their projects by leveraging the local crowd. Relying on an empirical analysis of 3250 individual investments via three Swiss reward-based crowdfunding platforms, it is found that higher immigration and immigration diversity levels in the region of the project proponent increase his/her ability to fulfil the funding needs by leveraging local backers (as opposed to backers from different regions). Immigration and immigration diversity constitute a cultural milieu that helps the financing of innovation and the development of the local entrepreneurial economy.

Mobility, Stagnation, or Attrition? Diverse Earning Trajectories in a Cohort of Foreign‐born Men

AbstractResearchers and policymakers frequently debate about the integration of immigrants into the US economy. These debates are often based on limited data that do not capture the diversity of immigrants who arrived in the later twentieth century. Related research has also struggled to incorporate the experience of short‐term immigrants or immigrants who move in and out of the labor force. Using records from the Social Security Administration, we track the complete cohort of foreign‐born men who received social security numbers in 1978 through their subsequent working years and characterize their earning trajectories. We find that the share of foreign‐born men with low earnings declined over time, mainly due to attrition from the formal labor force. We also show, for the first time, that immigrants’ employment and earning histories vary considerably by their countries of origin: while those from several countries in Asia and Africa experienced substantial earnings growth and tended to stay in the United States for the long term, men from Central America and the Caribbean experienced more stagnation and had high levels of temporary and permanent attrition from the formal labor force. We end by discussing the historical contingencies and socioeconomic contexts—in sending countries and the United States—that shaped these trajectories.

Hepatitis C virus infection characteristics and treatment outcomes in Canadian immigrants

BackgroundThere are multiple obstacles encountered by immigrants attempting to engage hepatitis C virus (HCV) care and treatment. We evaluated the diversity and treatment outcomes of HCV-infected immigrants evaluated for Direct Acting Antiviral (DAA) therapy in Canada.MethodsThe Canadian Network Undertaking against Hepatitis C (CANUHC) Cohort contains demographic information and DAA treatment information prospectively collected at 10 Canadian sites. Information on country of origin and race are collected. Characteristics and outcomes (sustained virological response; SVR) were compared by immigration status and race.ResultsBetween January 2016 and May 2018, 725 HCV-infected patients assessed for DAA therapy were enrolled in CANUHC (mean age: 52.66 ± 12.68 years); 65.66% male; 82.08% White, 5.28% Indigenous, 4.64% South East Asian, 4.64% East Indian, 3.36% Black). 18.48% were born outside of Canada. Mean age was similar [immigrants: 54.36 ± 13.95 years), Canadian-born: 52.27 ± 12.35 years); (p = 0.085)]. The overall baseline fibrosis score (in kPa measured by transient elastography) was similar among Canadian and foreign-born patients. Fibrosis score was not predicted by race or genotype. The proportion initiating DAA therapy was similar by immigrant status (56.72% vs 49.92%). SVR rates by intent-to-treat analysis were similar (immigrants-89.47%, Canadian-born-92.52%; p = 0.575).ConclusionA diverse immigrant population is engaging care in Canada, initiating HCV antiviral therapy in an equitable fashion and achieving SVR proportions similar to Canada-born patients. Our Canadian experience may be of value in informing HCV elimination efforts in economically developed regions.

Analysis on the Development Process of Korean Social Integration Policies Viewed in Multiculturalism

본 연구는 지금 한국은 매년 결혼이주여성을 비롯한 외국인 근로자들이 증가하면서 다양한 배경을 가진 이주민의 다양성을 어떻게 관리하고 국가적 통합을 유지해 갈 것인가의 문제는 정부의 중요한 정책 과제가 되고 있다. 이에 정부는 다양한 법ㆍ제도를 마련하여 내국인과 이주민의 사회적 갈등을 예방하고 최소화하기 위해 적극적으로 다문화사회통합정책을 주도하고 있다. 본 논문에서는 문헌연구 방법론을 활용하여 한국의 다문화와 연관된 사회통합을 위한 법과 정책을 살펴보고, 사회통합 관련 법과 정책의 발달과정을 통해 다문화주의의 이념 경로를 도출하고자 한다. 분석 결과, 한국의 사회통합정책은 몰문화주의적 다문화주의, 초문화주의적 다문화주의, 동화주의적 다문화주의, 초기단계의 다원주의적 다문화주의의 이동 경로를 밝아 온 것으로 확인되었다. 이를 토대로 한국의 사회통합 정책의 근간이 될 이념의 지향성에 대한 숙의와 합의점을 마련할 제언을 제시하였다.With the continuous increase of foreign workers including married immigrant women every year in Korea, the issue of how to manage the diversity of immigrants with diverse backgrounds and also to maintain the national integration becomes an important policy agenda of the government. Thus, in order to prevent and minimize social conflicts between citizens and immigrants, the government is actively leading the multicultural social integration policies by establishing various laws and systems. This thesis aims to examine laws and policies for social integration related to multiculture of Korea by utilizing the literature review methodology, and also to draw the ideological path of multiculturalism in the development process. In the results of analysis, the Korean social integration policies viewed in multiculturalism were developed from molecultural multiculturalism, transcultural multiculturalism, into the multiculturalism natured by assimilatism and pluralism in order. Based on this, this thesis presented the suggestions for establishing the deliberations and agreements for the ideological orientation that could become the basis of Korean social integration policies.

Immigrant assimilation and profiles of breast cancer screening behaviors among U.S. immigrant women

Previous researchers have shown that despite increased prevention and cancer risk awareness, many immigrant women do not receive cancer screenings in a timely manner. We use data from the National Health Interview Survey and Latent Class Analysis to characterize immigrant women in the U.S. in accordance to their risk of engaging in breast cancer prevention. We identify three latent profiles based on use of cancer screenings, sociodemographic characteristics, family cancer history, and immigrant acculturation. Our results show that cancer screening behaviors of immigrants are consistent with patterns of both classic and segmented assimilation, as well as with greater immigrant diversity.

The Contrasting Effects of Ethnic, Cultural and Immigrant Diversity on Entrepreneurship and Job Creation

This paper is the first one to examine empirically whether ethnic, cultural and immigrant population diversity within countries is favourable for entrepreneurship and job creation. Building on existing, yet disjointed theories on diversity, the paper provides insights as to why different types of diversity may have different effects on entrepreneurship. We test our predictions using multilevel modelling and the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor survey of over 1.5 million people across 88 countries. We find that diversity boosts the number of start-ups and new businesses. Also, businesses hire more employees in countries that have a higher population share of skilled or unskilled immigrants due to skill complementarity. However, businesses are more likely to close down in countries with higher cultural or immigration diversity, likely due to market fragmentation. Our results show that small changes in diversity lead to significant changes in the probability of business survival and job creation. These results have important policy implications for countries seeking to toughen their immigration policies. Since societies will continue to become more diverse, considering the multiple dimensions of diversity will become ever more relevant for research and policymaking.

A systematic review on the health of African immigrants in the United States: synthesizing recommendations for future research

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to conduct a systematic review of published literature studying the health of African immigrants in the USA and to develop a formal set of recommendations for future researchers aiming to improve the health outcomes in this population.Design/methodology/approachA comprehensive search was initiated on PubMed, Cochrane, ERIC, DOAJ, Prospero and Scopus databases. Final inclusion criteria were: systematic reviews, studying African Immigrants in the USA, measuring a clinical health outcome, since 1999. Articles were screened in four stages by title, abstract, full-text of the review and full-text of the primary studies within each review. Data was abstracted by identifying general information, study population, outcome measurements, conclusions and recommendations of each review.FindingsIn the initial search, 519 potential reviews were identified. After removing duplicates, 473 articles were excluded by screening the title or abstract. After a full-text review of each article and primary study within each article, nine reviews were included in the final synthesis. Reviews covered Female Genital Cutting and Pregnancy Outcomes, Caesarean Births, Gestational Diabetes, Cancer, HIV/AIDS, Body-weight and Acculturation. Among the primary reports included in the final synthesis, less than 50 per cent studied African immigrants in the USA. African Americans living in the USA made up only 11 per cent of the pooled study sample.Research limitations/implicationsImmigrants from Africa are one of the fastest-growing populations in the USA. This group has been underrepresented in health research, leading to a poor understanding of the group’s health outcomes. Health researchers must adopt recommendations and prioritize studies that meet the health needs of Africans during this time of demographic transition.Originality/valueSystematic reviews represent a bedrock of medical evidence and signify a solid understanding of accepted knowledge in the field. Systematic reviews, however, do not necessarily constitute the end of discovery. Researchers can use existing systematic reviews to critique previous studies or initiate future research. There remain significant research gaps analyzing the health outcomes, behaviors and treatment of subgroups of African immigrants living in the USA. Future research should shift toward the growing needs of the population, leveraging the strengths and diversity of African immigrants now living in the USA.

Immigrant Inventors and Diversity in the Age of Mass Migration

A possible unintended but damaging consequence of anti-immigrant rhetoric, and the policies it inspires, is that they may put high-skilled immigrants off more than low-skilled ones at times when countries and businesses intensify their competition for global talent. We investigate this argument following the location choices of thousands of immigrant inventors across US counties during the Age of Mass Migration. To do so we combine a unique USPTO historical patent dataset with Census data and exploit exogenous variation in both immigration flows and diversity induced by former settlements, WWI and the 1920s Immigration Acts. We find that co-ethnic networks play an important role in attracting immigrant inventors. However, we also find that immigrant diversity acts as an additional significant pull factor. This is mainly due to externalities that foster immigrant inventors' innovativeness. These findings are relevant for today's advanced economies that have become major receivers of migrant flows and, in a long-term perspective, have started thinking about immigration in terms of not only level but also composition.

Immigrant Inventors and Diversity in the Age of Mass Migration

A possible unintended but damaging consequence of anti-immigrant rhetoric, and the policies it inspires, is that they may put high-skilled immigrants off more than low-skilled ones at times when countries and businesses intensify their competition for global talent. We investigate this argument following the location choices of thousands of immigrant inventors across US counties during the Age of Mass Migration. To do so we combine a unique USPTO historical patent dataset with Census data and exploit exogenous variation in both immigration flows and diversity induced by former settlements, WWI and the 1920s Immigration Acts. We find that co-ethnic networks play an important role in attracting immigrant inventors. However, we also find that immigrant diversity acts as an additional significant pull factor. This is mainly due to externalities that foster immigrant inventors’ innovativeness. These findings are relevant for todays advanced economies that have become major receivers of migrant flows and, in a long-term perspective, have started thinking about immigration in terms of not only level but also composition.

Precursors to neighborhood revitalization? Immigrant growth and urban neighborhood change in new and traditional immigrant settlement areas in the United States

ABSTRACT Many urban neighborhoods in the United States experienced population and economic declines during the 1970s and 1980s, with some exhibiting subsequent reversals. While urban renewal is a subject of considerable research interest, few studies investigate the impact of increased immigrant concentration on neighborhood revitalization. This paper examines the contemporary immigrant/neighborhood revitalization nexus, broadening the literature in three ways. First, we use post-2000 data to reflect the recent growth in immigrant diversity and socioeconomic characteristics. Second, we disaggregate immigrants by race to better establish the contribution of racial discrimination on neighborhood change. Finally, we determine whether the relationship between immigrant in-migration and neighborhood revitalization – defined as increases in population, socioeconomic, and housing characteristics – varies across immigrant gateway types. We find that neighborhood immigrant growth does not lead to consistent growth. These findings shed new light on theories related to neighborhood change, as well as the utility of public policy related to neighborhood revitalization.

Obstáculos no Acesso à Saúde pelos Imigrantes: Análise de Género

Enquadramento: a presença de diferentes culturas pela enorme diversidade de imigrantes em Portugal provoca alterações no comportamento dos profissionais de saúde. Objetivo: conhecer os fatores que influenciam a procura dos cuidados de saúde segundo o género dos imigrantes ucranianos na região metropolitana do Porto. Metodologia: estudo exploratório-descritivo e correlacionai com abordagem quantitativa e qualitativa. A informação foi recolhida por questionário e 11 entrevistas numa amostra de conveniência constituída por 212 imigrantes ucranianos. Resultados: evidência de dificuldades no acesso aos cuidados de saúde não se verificando diferenças significativas quanto ao género. Uma vez que as mulheres Ucranianas procuram mais os cuidados, são elas que referem mais obstáculos no acesso à saúde (comunicação ineficaz, barreira linguística, barreira cultural, diferentes interpretações dos sintomas, desarticulação entre serviços, crenças, dificuldade na conjugação de horários, custos com os tratamentos, desconhecimento dos direitos como imigrante, situação de ilegalidade, receio de descriminação). Conclusão: barreiras culturais e linguísticas e desarticulação entre serviços influenciam negativamente a procura dos cuidados. As mulheres são as maiores utilizadoras dos serviços de saúde. Os serviços devem dispor de tradutores, mediadores culturais. Espera-se que os serviços e os profissionais de saúde desenvolvam planos dirigidos aos imigrantes. Sugere-se formação que aumente a competência cultural dos profissionais.

Immigration and Ethnic Diversity in England and Wales Examined Through an Area Classification Framework

This paper develops an area classification to examine immigration, ethnic diversity, and its social consequences in local authorities of England and Wales. Using a set of demographic, socio-economic, and migration variables drawn from survey and administrative data and cluster analysis methods, it produces a 12-fold classification of local authorities. The classification includes groups of traditional immigrant settlement areas with high flows of migrants of different migration streams and nationalities, smaller urban, and semi-rural areas with high migration rates associated with a dominant migrant group, as well as areas with migration rates close to the national average or below average migration rates. By taking into account the nuances of diversity and immigration and the local socio-economic context in which migrants settle, the classification provides a useful framework towards understanding the different ways immigration can impact on social cohesion and how local policies can be more responsive to the needs of local populations. Examination of attitudes to immigration, perceptions of cohesion, and social mixing suggests that less ethnically diverse local authorities with a dominant migrant group and socio-economically deprived local authorities are most at risk of experiencing higher pressures on social cohesion.

Surviving suburban redevelopment: Resisting the displacement of immigrant-owned small businesses in Wheaton, Maryland

ABSTRACT In the past several decades, the suburbs of many U.S. metropolitan regions have seen rising levels of poverty, immigration, and racial and ethnic diversity. At the same time, suburban redevelopment has led to more “urban-like” development patterns and struggles over gentrification and displacement. In a case study of Wheaton, Maryland, this article explores how redevelopment impacted suburban immigrants and small businesses and how they fought back. Using interviews with key stakeholders and secondary documents about Wheaton’s redevelopment, it shows several challenges to advancing equitable development in suburbs, including the capacity of community-based organizations, political representation, and limited government policies and programs. However, grassroots activists and grasstops policymakers have slowly built the capacity of communities to balance the scales of development. As suburbs redevelop, the article offers lessons about the consequences for socially and economically vulnerable groups and the political and community-based structures and support needed to advance equitable outcomes.

Serving the Health Care and Leisure Needs of Ethnic Aged in Canada: Implications and Concerns

Abstract Health care and leisure services, although different, are similar from the perspective that both focus on enhancing quality of life by improving health and wellbeing. Although both of these services are vitally important, some groups such as aged immigrants face a number of barriers that may limit their access to these services. This paper examines and discusses two related areas of the service sector – health care and leisure – and the growing concern to address the needs of Canada’s aging population, specifically, aged immigrants. The paper concludes with the following five suggestions for health care and leisure service providers to alleviate barriers faced by Canada’s ethnic aged: 1) Recognize that health care and leisure are closely related, 2) Understand the changing nature of society including trends in immigration, 3) Get to know society’s diversity of aged immigrants, 4) Evaluate current services provided, and 5) Establish future goals and directions.

Immigration and the quality of life in U.S. metropolitan areas

The growth and dispersion of immigrant populations in the United States in recent decades has sparked debate about the effects of immigration on the quality of life. Existing research provides evidence of both positive and negative effects, a result that we contend may reflect differing aspects of immigration. In this paper, we conceptualize immigration in urban areas as having two faces: immigrant concentration (the presence of large, concentrated populations of immigrants) and immigrant diversity (the presence of large, diverse populations of immigrants). For 366 U.S. metropolitan statistical areas, we examine how these two faces have influenced four dimensions of quality of life: economic well-being, social well-being, healthy living, and urban mobility. Controlling for appropriate covariates, we find that immigrant concentration tends to have negative effects on urban quality of life, but these effects dissipate when immigrant diversity is considered. On the other hand, immigrant diversity has positive and robust effects on all four dimensions of urban quality of life. We also find little evidence that these findings are an artifact of reverse causality, that is, the influence of quality of life measures on immigrant diversity.