International Labor Flows: Migration views from the Migrant, the Receiving-Country Economy, and the Sending-Country Family.

摘要

Just as international capital flows are the manifestation of money going to its most productive use, international labor migration is the result of human capital flowing to more productive use. Yet challenges may arise along the way. This dissertation covers three topics---three points of view---of issues in international migration. The first paper examines a new facet of the question "Who migrates?" by taking a detailed look at the cognitive and mental health profiles of migrants to investigate a potential psycho-cognitive selection (a mentally healthy migrant hypothesis) as an explanation of an observed positive difference between the mental health of US Hispanics and the general US population. The second describes the pull factors and resultant political economy challenges of a receiving country in an extreme case of expatriate labor: Qatar. Finally, the third paper of the dissertation explores the impact of migration on sending families by examining the effect of paternal migration on the cognitive, behavioral, and physical development of children left behind.