Who Leaves? Deciphering Immigrant Self-Selection from a Developing Country

Randall Akee examines migration flow from the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) to the US after 1994. Randall investigates the direction of self-selection on the basis of observable characteristics for male migrants from the FSM. He models the decision to move to the US as a function of the individual's observable human capital, individual, and family characteristics. Randall plots the actual earnings distributions of migrants and their matched nonmigrant counterparts. The results indicate that after controlling for observable characteristics, there is still a sizable and positive difference in the log wages of migrants and their matched nonmigrant counterparts in the FSM. Randall finds that immigrants from the FSM to the US are positively selected relative to their non-migrating FSM counterparts. His findings are consistent with a world in which differences in skill prices drive international immigration flows.