Economic analyses on linguistic heterogeneity and skill transfer of international migrants

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16H06703
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Economic policy
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Nakagawa Mariko 東京大学, 空間情報科学研究センター, 講師 (30779335)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-08-26 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 言語 / エスニシティ / スキル・トランスファー

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research subject consists of following two projects: (i) an empirical analysis of the impacts of linguistic diversity and heterogeneity on economic development based on cross-country comparison and (ii) a spatial economic analysis of the relationship between frictional skill transfer associated with international migration caused by differences in language use and migration decision of skilled workers. In project (i), we separately estimated a positive and negative impact stemming from linguistic heterogeneity on economic development. In addition, we estimated impacts of international linguistic distance, an average linguistic distance to English, which captures an extent of access to international communication. In project (ii), we analyzed the spatial distribution of skilled workers based on a spatial economic model by introducing frictional costs of skill transfer across different language areas in the context of international migration.

Free Research Field

空間経済学・地域経済学・都市経済学