MARKET IMPERFECTIONS, SOCIAL NETWORKS AND MIGRATION

描述(改编自申请人的摘要)：本申请研究 市场不完善与社交网络之间的联系。由于新来者进入 一个经济体面临着特别严重的信息问题，与 此外，还获得了迁移。 实证分析检验了网络效应存在的假设 并根据它们的能力来评估网络的性能 改善市场结果。考虑两种应用：劳动力市场网络 由从墨西哥移民到美国的社区和资本市场建立 由印度南部城镇提鲁普尔的一个当地社区建立的网络 为资源有限的移民提供资金。 测试网络效应是一项具有挑战性的经验练习，因为它被省略了 个人决定或结果的决定因素很可能是 在网络成员之间相互关联，从而产生虚假的 相关性。提出了许多可供选择的估计策略来 解释了这种潜在的偏见。 研究与健康相关的和其他公共服务的需求 有必要以这一框架为基础，使同化进程内在化。 对分析的扩展朝着这个方向迈出了第一步，将 墨西哥网络的结构，这是由历史决定的 移民模式，以提高其成员的英语水平。

DESCRIPTION (Adapted from the Applicant's Abstract): This application studies the link between market imperfections and social networks. Since newcomers into an economy face particularly severe information problems, an association with migration is also obtained. The empirical analysis tests the hypothesis that network effects are present and also evaluates the performance of the networks in terms of their ability to improve market outcomes. Two applications are considered: labor-market networks set up by communities migrating from Mexico to the U.S. and a capital-market network set up by a local community in the South Indian town of Tirupur which provides capital to migrants with limited resources. Testing for network effects is a challenging empirical exercise since omitted determinants of the individual's decision or outcome are very likely to be correlated across the members of the network, giving rise to a spurious correlation. A number of alternative estimation strategies are proposed to account for such potential bias. To study the demand for health-related and other public services it is necessary to build on this framework and endogenize the assimilation process. Extensions to the analysis take a first step in this direction, linking the structure of the Mexican networks, which is determined by the historical pattern of migration, to English-language proficiency among their members.