Cem Ozguzel (p), Jasper Hesse

Jinhwan Oh

The paper analyzes the impact of international migration on local productivity. Using individual-level administrative data and applying a two-step estimation strategy, it estimates the impact of migration on local productivity through human capital externalities and agglomeration economies. The analysis employs two identification strategies to address endogeneity concerns caused by the non-random settlement patterns of migrants. First, it exploits a plausibly-exogenous change in policy which has increased the migrant population from non-European countries. Second, it uses the well-established shift-share instrument relying on the past settlement patterns of migrants across Australia using previous census years. The analysis reveals individual and local drivers of productivity differences across Australian labour markets and whether migration contributes to reducing these differences. Moreover, it examines whether the effect of migrants on the local productivity of workers varies depending on the educational attainment of the natives and migrants.

Tomoki Ishikura (p)

Cem Ozguzel

The development of intercity rapid transport system can be a trigger to bring about significant impacts on regional economic systems and distribution of economic activity. A new high speed rail (HSR) system, running faster than 500km/h, is planned to operate in a couple of decade in Japan. The HSR will connect Japanese three megalopolises and drastically shorten the travel time. This project can cause the geographical reform of the country. This paper develops a computational model based on spatial economics (eg. Krugman (1991) and Fujita et al. (2001)) and apply the model to evaluate the impacts of the HSR project. The model classifies Japanese economy into 47 regions based on prefecture border. Production sectors are classified into three sector, namely primary, manufacturing and tertiary sectors

The model illustrates the two types of the economic impacts, short run effects and long run effects. In short run, regional labor endowment is fixed and the model depicts the spatial benefit distribution and changes in sectoral outputs. In long run, labors choose the residential location based on the regional utility level. The rest point of the labor movement dynamics depicts the stational equilibrium.

The application analysis shows the almost all regions in Japan will gain positive benefit. However, the long run analysis implies the possibility of the population concentration on a few regions including the terminal regions, Tokyo and Osaka. The regional population may decrease in the large number of regions, especially regions situated west of Osaka terminal.

Sukyung Kim (p), Jinhwan Oh (p), Soowon Choi

Tomoki Ishikura

Whenever South Korea’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) is criticized as fragmented or “thinly spread” disbursement, “selection and concentration” are suggested as a solution. Using a comprehensive panel dataset that covers the past three decades of South Korea’s inbound education ODA, this study examines whether these critiques are still valid. Applying the gravity model with distance and population as major variables, it finds a limited concentration ODA disbursement pattern; the country’s inbound education ODA is basically consistent with the gravity model’s estimations when all the countries are considered, but the “distance” factor loses its explanatory power when major countries are taken into account. In addition, analyses addressing geographic concentration using a dummy variable for the New Southern Policy (NSP) and the New Northern Policy (NNP) also show a lower significance level, although it would be premature to draw conclusions from these findings due to the short duration of these policies. Based on these findings, this study recommends further “selection and concentration” in Asia consistent with the NSP and NNP as a long-term blueprint for South Korean ODA policies.