Deck 11: The Economics of Immigration

Question 1

The two primary "levers" that immigration policymakers can manipulate are:

A) the number of immigrants that are admitted and the number of applications that are evaluated.
B) the number of individuals file applications and the conditions they have to meet for admissibility
C) the number of immigrants that are admitted and the conditions they have to meet for admissibility.
D) the fees that are charged to applicants and the conditions they have to meet for eligibility.
E) the fees that are charged to applicants and the number of immigrants that are admitted.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

The "brain drain" phenomenon refers to:

A) A disease in which the victim's brain shrinks.
B) Workers experiencing a fall in productivity levels due to a lack of up-to-date training.
C) The underemployment of highly skilled immigrants in occupations that do not make a good use of their skills.
D) The event of less-developed countries losing their best and brightest workers through immigration to more developed ones.
E) The event of highly skilled, white-collar workers withdrawing from the labour force.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Assessed classes of immigrants are those who are:

A) evaluated on the gravity of their human rights situation.
B) evaluated on the basis of their likely contribution and success in the labour market.
C) evaluated on the basis of their financial background.
D) given a grant in order to start a new life in Canada.
E) evaluated on the basis of their net worth prior to being admitted into Canada.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Which of the following refer to the labour market conditions that would prevail in the absence of any immigration activity?

A) The age effect
B) The cohort entry effect
C) The counterfactual case
D) The assimilation effect
E) The family investment hypothesis

Question 5

Which of the following is not a criterion for the point system for immigration?

A) The applicant's adaptability to the Canadian labour market
B) The applicant's degree of work experience
C) The level of education of the applicant
D) The applicant's source country
E) The applicant's proficiency in the official languages

Question 6

Research regarding emigration out of Canada suggests that:

A) The rate of emigration has been stable over the past few decades.
B) Lowering tax rates in Canada would likely stem the tide of emigration.
C) The numbers of individuals involved are high.
D) Any worker who can earn higher pay in the US is likely to move out of Canada.
E) It usually involves highly skilled individuals.

Question 7

Based on the most recent studies, which of the following is NOT a factor that contributes to the difficulties for immigrants to find a job?

A) a lack of skills specific to canada
B) without a university degree
C) weak english-language facility
D) lack of canadian working experience
E) poor knowledge of the canadian labour market

Question 8

The entry effect refers to:

A) the earnings penalty that new immigrants might experience compared to their native counterparts
B) the degree to which immigrants' earnings catch up over time to the earnings levels of their native counterparts
C) the number of immigrants that end up returning to their home country
D) the number of Canadians who experience job loss because of an inflow of immigrants
E) the brain drain

Question 9

Recent studies on economic assimilation for Canadian immigrants have found all of the following, EXCEPT that:

A) The entry effect is diminishing over time as the recent immigrants had higher levels of skills than the earlier immigrants.
B) The assimilation rates are uniformly too low for the average earnings of any cohort of immigrants to catch up with the comparable native born.
C) The return to years of experience is much lower for immigrants educated outside Canada.
D) The return to a year of education is much lower for immigrants educated outside Canada.
E) "Age at immigration" matters.

Question 10

Regarding the point system revised in 2016, which of the following category is given the maximum score?

A) Adaptability
B) Age
C) Official languages
D) Work experience
E) Education

Question 11

The increase in labour supply that accompanies immigrant inflows may have no adverse effect on wages because of all of the following, except that:

A) Immigration typically causes an increase in labour demand as immigrants purchase goods and services.
B) Importing labour in the form of immigration can serve as a substitute for importing goods produced in their source country.
C) The supply of lower-skilled labour may become more abundant.
D) Immigrants may relieve the labour market shortage without any adverse effect on wages or unemployment.
E) Immigration activity improves ties with the source country, which can increase demand in the labour market.

Question 12

All of the following are motivations for immigration, except:

A) population growth
B) humanitarian concerns relating to the applicant.
C) attracting international investors
D) admission of specific labour market skills that immigrants might have.
E) family reunification.

Question 13

The scientific literature on the economics of immigration consists of all of the following topics, EXCEPT:

A) economic performance of immigrants.
B) evaluation of government policy towards immigrants.
C) the impact of immigrants on outcomes for native workers.
D) economic models of migration.
E) human capital models.

Question 14

The quasi-panel approach is mostly useful when estimating:

A) the entry effect for immigrants' earnings.
B) the impact of immigration activity on the earnings of native-born Canadians.
C) the assimilation effect for immigrants' earnings.
D) the discrimination effect for immigrants' earnings.
E) the positive selection effect for immigrants' earnings.

Question 15

The issue of the counterfactual case for labour market conditions is most relevant to estimating:

A) the assimilation effect for immigrants' earnings.
B) the discrimination effect for immigrants' earnings.
C) the positive selection effect for immigrants' earnings.
D) the impact of immigration activity on the earnings of native-born Canadians.
E) the entry effect for immigrants' earnings.

Question 16

The point system is one in which points are awarded for:

A) a set of skills and attributes that the individual has.
B) the humanitarian concerns related to the applicant.
C) the type of immigrant class under which his/her application falls.
D) the number of children in the family of the applicant.
E) the salary range that the person was earning before he/she came to Canada.

Question 17

Which of the following is NOT a fact drawn from recent changes in patterns of immigration to Canada?

A) In 2005, China was the largest source country, accounting for 16 percent of all immigrants to Canada.
B) Since 1995, immigrants from India and the Philippines have grown substantially.
C) By 2015, the Philippines overtook China, providing almost 19 percent of immigrants to Canada.
D) There is a higher percentage of foreign born American residents than Canadian residents based on most recent data.
E) The variations in the sources of global conflict or economic crises are the main reasons for the changing pattern of immigration to Canada from source countries.

Question 18

Which of the following is the most common source region of immigrants to Canada?

A) The Middle East
B) Europe
C) Latin America
D) North America (the US and Mexico)
E) The Far East

Question 19

Which of the following is NOT a fact drawn from recent studies regarding the impact of immigration on labour market?

A) Sample size in Canadian census data may be a problem in the earlier empirical research.
B) Immigrants and natives with the same observed skill levels are not perfect substitutes.
C) Immigrants to the United States tend to be more skilled than those to Canada.
D) Immigration has no significant effect on the wages of native-born workers.
E) All of the choices are correct.

Question 20

If immigrants are positively selected, it means that:

A) Those individuals who are highly motivated and able are more likely to apply to immigrate to Canada.
B) They have received a high number of points in the assessment process.
C) Their wage levels exceeds those of their native counterparts.
D) They are chosen deliberately by the Canadian government and asked to apply.
E) The applicant is ready to start a new life in Canada.

Question 21

Congratulations! You have just been appointed a special advisor to the prime minister on immigratio policy. Unfortunately for you, this is a very controversial matter. In a nutshell, you are to make a case for or against continuing Canada's existing set of immigration policies, which are the most liberal in the industrialized world.
• First, you should provide some background for the report. How have the patterns of immigration changed over the past 40 years? There has been a major evolution on the source countries and the "class" composition of immigrants. You should include in your response a description of the point system.
• Here comes the sensitive part. Some native-born Canadians believe that immigrants displace the or put downward pressure on their wages. Using supply-and-demand analysis and the appropriate graphs, explain in theory how this might occur. You should mention the question of whether immigrant labour tends to be complementary to or substitutable for native labour.
• The issue of actual impact can only be resolved by recourse to empirical analysis. One of the many empirical challenges is the fact that the counterfactual case - what the labour market equilibriu would have been in the absence of immigration - is not observed. Explain why this factor is important, and mention the potential endogeneity of the immigration effect.
• What is the central thrust of most of the empirical research that has been carried out in North America? Are the fears of some native Canadian workers justified?