The Bank of Canada and the Global Migration Center at the University of California Davis are jointly organizing a workshop on the Macroeconomic Implications of Migration. The workshop takes place at the Bank of Canada’s Head Office in Ottawa on August 29 and 30, 2022 and features two keynote lectures by Ethan Lewis (Dartmouth College) and Giovanni Peri (University of California, Davis). In addition, the workshop consists of four sessions with contributions from invited researchers and designated discussants. The broad subjects discussed in the workshop are:
- The labor market impacts of immigration, their effects on firms, productivity, innovation, and the economy as a whole.
- The response of immigration to migration policies and occupation barriers, as well as the consequences of these policies on the labour market and firm competitiveness.
- The business-cycle behaviour of migration and its implication on the labour market, the skill-premium and income inequality.
- The effect of migration on public finances.
Agenda
See the detailed agenda.
Monday, August 29
Opening Remarks
08:50–09:00 (ET)
Sharon Kozicki (Bank of Canada, Deputy Governor)
Session 1: Skilled Migration, H1B Visas, Offshoring
09:00–11:00 (ET)
Chair: Nuno Paixao (Bank of Canada, FSD)
- Britta Glennon (The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania)
- Discussant: Marlon Seror (Université du Québec à Montréal)
Immigrants, Firms, and Workers: Insights from the H-1B Lottery and US Employer-Employee Matched Data
- Nicolas Morales (Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond)
- Discussant: Chad Sparber (Colgate University)
- Nicolo Gatti (Università della Svizzera Italiana)
Discussant: Miguel Cardoso (Brock University)
Keynote 1: The Effect of Low-Skill Immigration Restrictions on Firms and Workers: Evidence from a Randomized Lottery
11:30–12:30 (ET)
Ethan Lewis (Dartmouth College)
Session 2: Migration, Labor Markets, and Inequality
13:45–15:45 (ET)
Chair: Laure Simon (Bank of Canada, CEA)
Floating Population: Consumption and Location Choices of Rural Migrants in China
- Joan Monras (Universitat Pompeu Fabra)
- Discussant: Yu Zheng (Queen Mary)
Internal Migration and Labor Market Dynamism
- Gaetano Basso (Bank of Italy)
- Discussant: Greg Howard (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
Immigration and Inequality: New Macroeconomic Evidence
- Francesco Furlanetto (Norges Bank)
- Discussant: Alberto Rivera-Padilla (California State University, Fullerton)
Keynote 2: Skilled Immigrants, Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Productivity of Firms
16:15–17:15 (ET)
Giovanni Peri (University of California, Davis)
Tuesday, August 30
Session 3: Migration and Productivity
08:30–10:30 (ET)
Chair: Youngmin Park (Bank of Canada, CEA)
Occupational Barriers and the Productivity Penalty from Lack of Legal Status
- Francesc Ortega (The City University of New York, Queens College)
- Discussant: Rebecca Lessem (Carnegie Mellon University)
Human Mobility and the Globalization of Knowledge Production
- Sara Signorelli (University of Amsterdam)
- Discussant: Giuseppe Ippedico (University of California, Davis)
Skilled Immigration, Task Allocation and the Innovation of Firms
- Anna Maria Mayda (Georgetown University)
- Discussant: Marta Prato (University of Chicago)
Session 4: Migration, the Business Cycle, Monetary and Fiscal Policies
11:00–13:00 (ET)
Chair: Lin Shao (Bank of Canada, INT)
Slowdown in Immigration, Labor Market Shortages, and the Decline in the Skill-Premium
- Federico Mandelman (Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta)
- Discussant: Henry Siu (University of British Columbia)
Migration, Search and Skill Heterogeneity
- Myrto Oikonomou (International Monetary Fund)
- Discussant: Sharon Traiberman (New York University)
Public Debt, Private Pain: Regional Borrowing, Default, and Migration
- Pablo Guerron (Boston College)
- Discussant: Trevor Tombe (University of Galgary)
Workshop organizers
- Daniela Hauser, International Economic Analysis, Bank of Canada
- Giovanni Peri, University of California at Davis
- Walter Steingress, International Economic Analysis, Bank of Canada