Wifag Adnan
New York University Abu Dhabi
Biography
Ph.D. Princeton University
B.S. Duke University (magna cum laude with distinction)
Other Affiliations: Research Affiliate at IZA, Research Associate at ERF and Visiting Scholar at INSEAD
Wifag Adnan’s research focuses on how labor markets function in developing and emerging economies and the topics she has worked on span labor mobility, job search, unemployment, labor market segmentation, wage differentials, female labor force participation and education. Her recent publications quantify the labor market costs of conflict in politically volatile regions such as the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Other work also includes how differences in politically ideologies, provide for using voting patterns at the municipality level, may be associated with gender disparity, measured at the individual level. Current research proposals include evaluating labor reforms in various contexts to examine subsequent mobility patterns and the potential effects on wages, employment, and well-being. Her most recent project involves how European and US labor markets integrate first and second generation immigrants, with a key focus on immigrants of Asian origin.
「 The Role of Culture and Institutions in the Social Mobility of EU Immigrants and their Descendants 」
For a long time, immigrants sought to improve their economic prospects and that of their descendants by migrating to another country. The causes of migration range from political corruption and war in the source country to the lack of economic opportunities in its formal and informal labor markets. The wide-ranging circumstances of each source country led to diverse social and cultural norms worldwide. Thus, each group of immigrants arrives to the destination country with its source country’s culture. Additionally, upon arrival, immigrants discover that the destination country utilizes a set of social, political and economic institutions that are backed by a robust legal framework to acculturate immigrants. The assimilation of immigrants across destination countries is far from uniform and may partially depend on the immigrants’ source country or region. This paper investigates the extent in which the degree of social mobility experienced by immigrants and their descendants in several European countries is shaped by the culture of the immigrant groups’ source country. Additionally, the paper investigates the role of the destination country’s political and economic institutions on the relative success of various immigrant groups. In the past, some have argued that the culture of the source country plays a large role in predicting the economic outcomes of second generation Americans. This paper aims to address two shortcomings in the literature: 1.) studies on second generation Americans do not include a wide-range of Asian countries as source countries, 2.) studies on second-generation immigrants have not been applied to the European context.
