This thesis is motivated by the over-arching question “what economic contribution do immigrants make to the UK”? The question invites several perspectives from which to answer and the thesis offers a survey of the literature relevant to these, with particular emphasis on empirical studies focussed on the UK economy. There is also a brief historical summary of the contemporary UK experience and policies regarding immigration. Comparative profiles of the UK immigrant and native populations are constructed from primary source data, namely various issues of the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS). From this contextualising foundation, the thesis moves to examine two particular aspects of immigrants’ economic activity in the UK, using QLFS data as an evidence base. These aspects are a) the change in the average real wages of low-skilled immigrant workers, with native workers as a comparator and b) factors influencing the rate of immigrant entrepreneurship. The empirical investigation of changes in average real wages amongst low-skilled immigrants discovers a noticeable decline relative to the native peer group, particularly for males; proximate causes are identified. The investigation of entrepreneurial activity confirms a number of influential factors noted within the literature and adds to these some significant drivers that have not previously been identified.

Following the Russo-Japanese War Japan acquired its second formal colony, Karafuto (southern Sakhalin), which became thoroughly integrated with mainland Japan, developing into an important supplier of marine products, lumber, paper and pulp, and coal. This sparsely populated colony offered the prospect of large scale settlement and over the course of the Japanese colonial period the population of the Karafuto increased to over 400,000 before the Pacific War. This thesis traces the course of migration to Karafuto and assesses the role of settlement policy, and migratory labour in colonial settlement. Utilizing colonial media, government reports and local documents, as well as the recollections of former settlers, this study argues that the phenomenon of migratory labour acted as an indirect means for establishing a permanent settler community in Karafuto. This study stresses that the colonial government of Karafuto’s efforts towards the establishment of permanent settlements based on agriculture largely failed. Instead, it was industries that involved the utilization of migratory labour which acted as base-industries for economic life in the colony, and helped support Karafuto’s more enduring communities. Indeed, even in the few cases of successfully established government sponsored agricultural communities in Karafuto, seasonal migratory labour and nonagricultural activity were a persistently crucial component of the community’s economic life. A further implication of this study relates to the comprehensive integration of Karafuto with migratory labour markets in northern mainland Japan and Hokkaido. Evidence presented in this study allows us to question the prevalent notions that northern Japan was an isolated, or poorly connected, region. Instead, it is found that the prefectures of Japan’s northeast were actively engaged in northward bound settlement and migratory labour circuits.

Framed within the context of growing economic changes generated by globalisation in Europe and of the transition towards an increasingly service-based economy and therefore labour market restructuring, the present study investigates the intersecting lived experiences of work, family and belonging of intra-European migrant workers and their families in Rome and London. In particular the comparative examination focuses on the dynamics of mobility and work which Romanian women and men are embedded in and enact within the transnational geo-political space of the enlarged EU, as well as on the mechanisms and processes influencing their transnational mobilities. The analysis, based on a longitudinal multi-sited fieldwork conducted in two European locations – Rome and London - develops within three key institutional sites of migration: labour market, family and “community”/belonging. Within each of these, a specific process of migration is then explored: access to and participation in the labour market, transnational family formation and activities, formation and meanings of belonging/“community” in the two cities. The overall aim is to compare and provide an in-depth account of the various dimensions of Romanian migrants’ experiences in the context of different national and supranational policies, labour market realities, and socio-cultural institutions. Furthermore, the in-depth exploration, which combines narrative interviews and participant observation, provides empirically grounded insights into the existence of variables such as nationality, gender, class, historical experiences and long term individual or collective/family goals, which, together with social and immigration policies, labour market demands, work permit systems, and new geo-political openings of the European Union, are involved in and effectively influence migratory and settlement decisions and practices. As such, the study provides a valuable contribution to the empirical and theoretical advancement of studies on transnationalism in the current evolving space of the EU.

This thesis analyzes the political discourse on skilled labour migration in Germany between 2005 and 2009 and investigates how and why skilled labour migration polices are negotiated in the Federal Republic of Germany. In particular the thesis highlights the significance of underlying policy maker motives within the policy formation process of Germany s 2009 Action Programme on Skilled Labour Migration as well as their ultimate imprint on the legislation. The critical discourse analysis of parliamentary debate in Germany between 2005 and 2009 in conjunction with interviews with relevant national policy makers, institutional actors, labour market stakeholder, and independent policy advisors reveals that there is a significant discrepancy between policy maker intent in regards to skilled labour migration legislation and the stated intent of the 2009 Action Programme. While the stated aim of the Action Programme is to facilitate and promote skilled labour migration to Germany, the analysis of relevant political debate and the stakeholder interviews reveals that German policy makers are primarily motivated to protect and promote preferential labour market access for domestic workers while at the same time restricting undesired labour migration to Germany. As a result, the policy measures of the 2009 Action Programme on Skilled Labour Migration have a strong protectionist and restrictionist emphasis. Moreover, the thesis reveals that the complex and multilayered power-negotiations over skilled labour migration legislation between the various policy makers, institutional actors, and labour market stakeholders are largely shaped and framed by domestic political considerations. Notwithstanding the widely acknowledged global competition over skilled workers and the need for German labour market to maintain competitive within the global economy, immigration policy makers in Germany are primarily motivated by factors that are firmly embedded within the national political sphere and that aim to control, limit, and restrict territorial access of foreign workers into the national labour market. This in turn highlights the need for migration scholars to reposition and re-conceptualize the role of the nation-state and as an active agent in shaping international labour migration flows.

This thesis consists of three chapters. The first one is an empirical assessment of the consequences of post-2004 temporary restrictions to welfare access for some European immigrants in the UK in terms of their benefits take-up and their labour supply. I provide evidence that when access to benefits is restricted, immigrants compensate for the foregone income by working more. This is particularly true for females. Nevertheless, even in the absence of any restrictions, immigrants are less reliant on welfare and work more than their native counterparts. The second chapter focuses on the determinants of geographical mobility of British labour market entrants over the period 1991-2008, with an emphasis on the role of education. Given the absence of an appropriate index for mobility in the data, I compute a continuous measure of distance that is then matched to the individual information. Results suggest that having a degree has a positive impact on the mobility of young adults and, hence, on their labour market opportunities. Moreover, an important role is played by previous mobility experience and some other environmental factors. In the third chapter of this dissertation I evaluate the long-term effects of undergoing job turnover during a woman’s early career on her demand for children. In doing so, I make a distinction between voluntary and involuntary job separations. The empirical analysis is made on a sample of British women who have left education in the years 1959-1986, for which I construct job experience and family formation variables on the basis of retrospective information. The findings imply that women with stronger preferences for children might self-select into more rewarding career paths, possibly in pursuance of better labour market conditions that can guarantee a more adequate child rearing.

Une des marques du développement est la résorption du décalage entre la distribution spatiale de l’activité économique et celle de la population. Cette thèse étudie les conséquences d’une telle résorption sous l’effet de la migration ou d’une redistribution géographique de l’activité économique. Le premier chapitre s’intéresse à la relation entre migrants internationaux et foyers d’origine. Il met en lumière l’importance, pour les envois de fonds et les investissements, des croyances des migrants et de l’asymétrie d’information, aggravée par la distance, entre migrants et destinataires de ces envois. Le deuxième chapitre explore la transformation de l’économie d’accueil sous l’effet d’un afflux de migrants venus des campagnes en ville, en Chine. Il mesure d’abord leur impact sur le marché du travail à destination, puis examine comment ils affectent l’allocation des facteurs de production et les contraintes rencontrées par les entreprises sur les marchés du travail et du capital. Le troisième chapitre étudie l’impact sur le long terme d’un vaste programme d’industrialisation réalisé en Chine, et montre un retour de fortune. Ce renversement est imputé aux distorsions introduites sur le marché du travail local par la présence de grands complexes manufacturiers. Ce chapitre met en évidence le rôle de la migration pour surmonter ces imperfections et amener l’étape ultérieure de la transformation structurelle : le passage de l’industrie lourde à la production de biens de consommation et de services. / A key characteristic of the process of economic development is the shrinking spatial mismatch between economic activity and population. This thesis analyzes what happens when this spatial mismatch is reduced, as people’s places of residence and work or the geographical distribution of economic activity is altered. Chapter I deals with the relationship between international migrants and their households of origin. It sheds light on the importance for remittances and investments of migrants' beliefs and the information asymmetry between remittance senders and recipients that distance aggravates. Chapter II explores the transformation of the receiving economy due to an influx of rural-to-urban migrants in China. It first quantifies the effect of immigrants on the labor market at destination, and then investigates their impact on the reallocation of production factors and factor-market constraints faced by urban firms. Chapter III focuses on the long-term impact of a large industrialization plan in China. It reveals a reversal pattern due to the distortions in local labor markets induced by the presence of big plants. It highlights the role of migration in overcoming such imperfections and in bringing about the later stage of structural transformation—from heavy industry to consumption goods and services.

Cette thèse de doctorat étudie les effets des envois de fonds issus des migrations sur le développement des pays d’origine des migrants et compare ces effets avec ceux de l’aide publique au développement. Dans une première partie, nous étudions les effets des envois de fonds des migrants sur le développement des pays récipiendaires. Il apparaît que les envois de fonds réduisent les inégalités intra-Pays dans les pays relativement plus riches, dont les coûts d’émigration sont faibles et dont la part des émigrés qualifiés est peu importante (Chapitre 1). L’effet sur la croissance économique en Afrique sub-Saharienne est également non-Linéaire et dépend positivement du développement financier et institutionnel des pays récipiendaires (Chapitre 2). Enfin, les envois de fonds ont un effet d’appréciation sur le taux de change réel dans les pays CFA, mais cet effet est non significatif pour les pays à régime de change flexible (Chapitre 3). Dans une seconde partie nous nous intéressons au caractère stabilisateur des transferts des migrants. Le Chapitre 4 montre, au niveau microéconomique, que les envois de fonds ont joué un rôle d’assurance lors de la dernière crise financière et que ce rôle a été d’autant plus important que les migrants n’ont pas été sévèrement touchés par la crise et que les liens conservés avec le pays d’origine étaient forts. Le Chapitre 5 montre à partir d’une approche pays par pays que les transferts sont contra-Cycliques dans une minorité de cas, mais qu’en moyenne, ils répondent négativement au revenu des pays d’origine. Les résultats du Chapitre 6 indiquent que les transferts atténuent l’effet négatif des chocs commerciaux sur la pauvreté. Dans une troisième et dernière partie nous comparons les envois de fonds { l’aide publique au développement. Alors que l’aide permet d’atténuer l’effet négatif de l’instabilité des exportations sur la croissance, les transferts des migrants permettent d’amoindrir l’effet négatif de l’instabilité des exportations sur la pauvreté (Chapitre 7). Enfin, les envois de fonds diminuent la dépendance des pays { l’aide publique au développement lorsque ces flux de capitaux sont investis plutôt que consommés (Chapitre 8). / This dissertation examines the effects of migrant remittances on the development of origin countries and compares these effects with those of official development aid. In a first part we investigate the effects of remittances on the development of recipient countries. Results suggest that remittances reduce within inequality in countries more developed, where migration cost are lower and the share of skilled migrants less important (Chapter 1). Their impact on growth in sub-Saharan Africa is also non-Linear and depends positively on the financial and institutional development of recipient economies (Chapter 2). Finally, remittances have a real exchange appreciation effect in CFA countries, but not in countries with a flexible exchange rate regime (Chapter 3). In a second part we focus on the stabilizing impact of remittances. Chapter 4 shows, at the microeconomic level, that remittances have played an insurance role during the last financial crisis and that this role was all the more acute that migrants have not strongly suffered from the crisis and that family links were strong. Chapter 5 suggests in a country-By-Country approach that remittances are pro-Cyclical in a higher number of cases, while on average, they respond negatively to the home country income. Chapter 6 findings show that remittances dampen the harmful impact of trade instability on poverty. In a third part, we compare migrant remittances with public aid. While public aid mitigates the harmful impact of export instability on output growth, migrant remittances dampen the harmful effect of export instability on poverty (Chapter 7). Finally, migrant remittances reduce aid dependency in countries where remittances are invested rather than consumed (Chapter 8).