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Do Diasporas Affect Regional Knowledge Transfer within Host Countries? A Panel Analysis of German R&D Collaborations

Lutz Schneider, Alexander Kubis, Mirko Titze
Regional Studies, No. 1, 2019
Abstract
Interactive regional learning involving various actors is considered a precondition for successful innovations and, hence, for regional development. Diasporas as non-native ethnic groups are regarded as beneficial since they enrich the creative class by broadening the cultural base and introducing new routines. Using data on research and development (R&D) collaboration projects, the analysis provides tentative evidence that the size of diasporas positively affects the region’s share of outward R&D linkages enabling the exchange of knowledge. The empirical analysis further confirms that these interactions mainly occur between regions hosting the same diasporas, pointing to a positive effect of ethnic proximity rather than ethnic diversity.
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Relative Deprivation and Migration Preferences

Walter Hyll, Lutz Schneider
Economics Letters, No. 2, 2014
Abstract
In this letter, we overcome the existing shortages with respect to the assignment of individuals to reference groups and are the first to show that individual aversion to relative deprivation plays a decisive role in shaping migration preferences.
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The Social Capital Legacy of Communism-results from the Berlin Wall Experiment

Peter Bönisch, Lutz Schneider
European Journal of Political Economy, No. 32, 2013
Abstract
In this paper we establish a direct link between the communist history, the resulting structure of social capital, and attitudes toward spatial mobility. We argue that the communist regime induced a specific social capital mix that discouraged geographic mobility even after its demise. Theoretically, we integrate two branches of the social capital literature into one more comprehensive framework distinguishing an open type and a closed type of social capital. Using the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) we take advantage of the natural experiment that separated Germany into two parts after the WWII to identify the causal effect of social capital on mobility. We estimate a three equation ordered probit model and provide strong empirical evidence for our theoretical propositions.
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A Note on Income Aspirations, Television and Happiness

Lutz Schneider
Kyklos, No. 2, 2013
Abstract
In their innovative and frequently cited study on the impact watching television (TV) has on income aspirations and happiness, Luigino Bruni and Luca Stanca 2006, henceforth B&S) offer an alternative explanation of Easterlin's income-happiness paradox: “television viewing in contemporary society, by raising material aspirations, contributes to offset the effect of higher income on individual happiness” (B&S, p. 225). More generally, the paper contributes to the literature of economic psychology, addressing the determinants and formation of preferences. While the theoretical analysis of B&S and the hypothesis on the effect of TV on material aspirations are well-grounded, the empirical evidence they present to corroborate the TV hypothesis is rather weak. After correcting a technical inaccuracy of B&S' empirical analysis one obtains results which no longer confirm a significant, positive and robust impact of TV consumption on material aspirations. As discussed in the third section, the revised empirical result does not disprove B&S' main hypothesis on the role of TV in shaping individual preferences. However, it suggests applying a more direct approach of measuring the effect of TV on aspiration than that performed in B&S's empirical analysis.
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The Causal Effect of Watching TV on Material Aspirations: Evidence from the “Valley of the Innocent”

Walter Hyll, Lutz Schneider
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, No. 86, 2013
Abstract
The paper addresses the question of whether TV consumption has an impact on material aspirations. We exploit a natural experiment that took place during the period in which Germany was divided. Owing to geographical reasons TV programs from the Federal Republic of Germany could not be received in all parts of the German Democratic Republic. Therefore a natural variation occurred in exposure to West German television. We find robust evidence that watching TV is positively correlated with aspirations. Our identification strategy implies a causal relationship running from TV to aspirations. This conclusion resists various sets of alternative specifications and samples.
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Human Capital Mobility and Regional Convergence

Lutz Schneider, Alexander Kubis
Regional Studies, 2012
Abstract
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Selektivität, soziale Bindung und räumliche Mobilität - Eine Analyse der Rückkehrpräferenz nach Ostdeutschland

Lutz Schneider, Alexander Kubis, D. Wiest
Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsgeographie, No. -1, 2011
Abstract
Selectivity, social ties and spatial mobility. An analysis of preferences for return migration to East Germany. In the public debate, brain drain from East Germany is supposed to be the most critical trend regarding the development and catching up of the New Länder. Therefore, potential for in- and re-migration has attracted much attention at least in the political context. Our contribution analyses the remigration potential on basis of data from a DFG research project focussing on the re-migration intentions of people formerly emigrated from Saxony-Anhalt. The analysis concentrates on the following aspects: the effect of job market success after emigration; the impact of social ties to the origin and the host region and on the selectivity of re-migration preferences. The econometric results confirm several expected effects: On the one hand an individual’s job market success reduces the intention to return. Likewise, the re-migration preference increases for people whose expectations were disappointed. On the other hand, the relevance of social ties to the origin region for re-migration dispositions is confirmed by the estimations. Yet, regarding selectivity of re-migration preferences in terms of human capital econometric results are somewhat ambiguous.
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Informal Social Networks and Spatial Mobility

Peter Bönisch, Lutz Schneider
Post-Communist Economies, 2010
Abstract
Individuals’ preferences in transition regions are still shaped by the former communist system. We test this ‘communist legacy’ hypothesis by examining the impact of acculturation in a communist regime on social network participation and, as a consequence, on preferences for spatial mobility. We focus on the paradigmatic case of Eastern Germany, where mobility intentions seem to be substantially weaker than in the Western part. Applying an IV ordered probit approach we first find that Eastern people acculturated in a communist system are more invested in locally bounded informal social capital than Western people. Second, we confirm that membership in such locally bounded social networks reduces the intention to move away. Third, after controlling for the social network effect the mobility gap between East and West is substantially reduced. Low spatial mobility of the Eastern population, we conclude, is to an important extent attributable to a social capital endowment characteristic of post-communist economies
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Are there Gender-specific Preferences for Location Factors? A Grouped Conditional Logit-model of Interregional Migration Flows in Germany

Lutz Schneider, Alexander Kubis
Schmollers Jahrbuch, 2010
Abstract
The article analyses the question of whether women and men differ in their tastes for location factors. The question is answered by quantifying the impact of location characteristics on interregional migration flows across Germany. The analysis is based on a grouped conditional logit approach. We augment the framework by controlling for violation of the independence of irrelevant alternatives assumption and for overdispersion. As a result we find no differences in terms of direction of impact; however, the regressions confirm gender differences, mostly in terms of intensity, regarding regional wage levels and the availability of educational institutions. Moreover, even after controlling for place attributes women seem to be more migratory than men.
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Innovation and Skills from a Sectoral Perspective: A Linked Employer-Employee Analysis

Lutz Schneider, Jutta Günther, Bianca Brandenburg
Economics of Innovation and New Technology, 2010
Abstract
Science and engineering skills as well as management and leadership skills are often referred to as sources of innovative activities within companies. Broken down into sectoral innovation patterns, this article examines the role of formal education, actual occupation and work experience in the innovation performance in manufacturing firms within a probit model. It uses unique micro data for Germany (LIAB) that contain information about corporate innovation activities and the qualification of employees in terms of formal education, actual professional status and work experience. We find clear differences in the human capital endowment between sectors according to the Pavitt classification. Sectors with a high share of highly skilled employees engage in above average product innovation (specialized suppliers and science-based industries). However, according to our estimation results, across as well as within these sectors a large share of highly skilled employees does not substantially increase the probability of a firm being innovative.
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