TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Borjas, George J.
AU  - Kauppinen, Ilpo
AU  - Poutvaara, Panu
        TI  - Self‐Selection of Emigrants: Theory and Evidence on Stochastic Dominance in Observable and Unobservable Characteristics
        PY  - 2015/Oct/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 9434
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp9434
        AB  - We show that the Roy model has more precise predictions about the self-selection of migrants than previously realized. The same conditions that have been shown to result in positive or negative selection in terms of expected earnings also imply a stochastic dominance relationship between the earnings distributions of migrants and non-migrants. We use the Danish full population administrative data to test the predictions. We find strong evidence of positive self-selection of emigrants in terms of pre-emigration earnings: the income distribution for the migrants almost stochastically dominates the distribution for the non-migrants. This result is not driven by immigration policies in destination countries. Decomposing the self-selection in total earnings into self-selection in observable characteristics and self-selection in unobservable characteristics reveals that unobserved abilities play the dominant role.
        KW  - international migration
KW  - Roy model
KW  - self-selection
        ER  -