The outcome of the research at the current stage will beshaping the idea, conducting preliminary data analysis, and presenting at aconference.  Some high-income countries, such as Japan, have beenstruggling with labor shortagesdue to an aging population and low birth rates. Although Japan has recentlyintroduced several migration-related policies, its foreign-born population remainsmuch lower compared to other OECD countries. Various social, cultural,political, and economic challenges may be associated with such cross-borderlabor mobility. This project intends to understand the challenges and prospectsof migration in addressing labor shortages, with a particular focus on Japan asan island country. This study delves into the driving factors of migration inboth migrant-receiving and sending countries, and the labor market and economicimplications of migration.Japan has experienced significant growth in its foreignpopulation in recent years. Along with the increase, the dynamics and compositionof migrant groups and regional distribution have also shifted. The number of foreignnationals in 2023 is higher than in 2013 for almost all the regions andcountries of origin. Growth of certain countries—notably Vietnam, Nepal, andIndonesia—has been particularly strong. A review of policies suggests that the governmenthas initiated policies for Vietnam and Indonesia, but not for Nepal, indicatingthat factors beyond policy may explain differences in migration flows to Japanacross countries. These factors may relate to both migrant-receiving andsending countries, including distance, skills, economic cooperation, culture,and domestic conditions in countries of origin. Literature suggests various determinants of migration, amongwhich the distance between host and origin countries is an important factor. Toinvestigate the determinants of immigration to Japan, we plot the distance ofcountries’ capital cities from Tokyo and the difference in migrant populationbetween December 2012 and December 2024. We observe a negative correlationbetween distance and the increase in migration to Japan. We will further investigateother plausible driving factors.The increase in the foreign population is notthe same in all the prefectures. The foreign population is concentrated in someprefectures, while it has hardly increased in other prefectures. The largestincrease in foreign people in Japan is in Tokyo prefecture. The foreignpopulation has also grown in Chiba, Saitama, Osaka, Kanagawa, and Aichiprefectures over the period. The population stagnated or declined around 2020perhaps due to Covid-19. Applying the prefecture-level migration information,we consider creating treatment groups consisting of prefectures with highforeign populations and comparing them with other prefectures using methods suchas matching and nearest neighbor matching.

The outcome of the research at the current stage will beshaping the idea, conducting preliminary data analysis, and presenting at aconference.  Some high-income countries, such as Japan, have beenstruggling with labor shortages due to an aging population and low birth rates. Although Japan has recentlyintroduced several migration-related policies, its foreign-born population remainsmuch lower compared to other OECD countries. Various social, cultural,political, and economic challenges may be associated with such cross-borderlabor mobility. This project intends to understand the challenges and prospectsof migration in addressing labor shortages, with a particular focus on Japan asan island country. This study delves into the driving factors of migration inboth migrant-receiving and sending countries, and the labor market and economicimplications of migration.Japan has experienced significant growth in its foreignpopulation in recent years. Along with the increase, the dynamics and compositionof migrant groups and regional distribution have also shifted. The number of foreignnationals in 2023 is higher than in 2013 for almost all the regions andcountries of origin. Growth of certain countries—notably Vietnam, Nepal, andIndonesia—has been particularly strong. A review of policies suggests that the governmenthas initiated policies for Vietnam and Indonesia, but not for Nepal, indicatingthat factors beyond policy may explain differences in migration flows to Japanacross countries. These factors may relate to both migrant-receiving andsending countries, including distance, skills, economic cooperation, culture,and domestic conditions in countries of origin. Literature suggests various determinants of migration, amongwhich the distance between host and origin countries is an important factor. Toinvestigate the determinants of immigration to Japan, we plot the distance ofcountries’capital cities from Tokyo and the difference in migrant populationbetween December 2012 and December 2024. We observe a negative correlationbetween distance and the increase in migration to Japan. We will further investigateother plausible driving factors. The increase in the foreign population is not the same inall the prefectures. The foreign population is concentrated in some prefectures,while it has hardly increased in other prefectures. The largest increase in foreign people in Japan is in Tokyo prefecture. The foreign population has alsogrown in Chiba, Saitama, Osaka, Kanagawa, and Aichi prefectures over theperiod. The population stagnated or declined around 2020 perhaps due toCovid-19. Applying the prefecture-level migration information, we consider creatingtreatment groups consisting of prefectures with high foreign populations andcomparing them with other prefectures using methods such as matching andnearest neighbor matching.

The responsibility for children’s needs falls primarily ontheir parents, although governments in some high-income countries provideminimal support. People cover their cost of living through earnings from thelabor market unless they possess a high level of wealth or capital. Therefore,it is important to understand how parental labor market status impactschildren. Studies examined the impact of parental economic status on childrenfrom different dimensions, including income (Shea, 2000; Akee et al., 2010),unemployment (Baranowska-Rataj et al., 2023), and entrepreneurship (Oggero etal., 2023). This research examines the implications of parental labor marketfactors, such as salary, job type, and migration on children. Discussions with experts and general people suggest thatparental labor market status can affect children’s career preferences and humancapital, including health and education. I conducted an initial analysis using Bangladesh’sHousehold Income and Expenditure Survey 2022 data to study the impact on healthand education.  The results suggest that parents’ labor marketcharacteristics have little impact on children’s education and health outcomes.The father’s education has some impact on children’s education but the mother’seducation does not. Neither the father’s nor the mother’s characteristicsappear to influence whether children have chronic illness. Rather, the impactis more for direct investments in children, such as education expenses andtuition fee waivers. These results are preliminary and more associative thancausal. The research is ongoing, and further investigation is needed to confirmcausal relationships. I plan to conduct further analyses using data over a longer periodand policy variations. The government of Bangladesh has implemented several policiesto improve social security, promote education, and more. For example, topromote girls’ education, the government implemented nationwide stipend programs. Such policy variations will be utilized to confirm causal relationships.  Akee, R. K. Q., Copeland, W. E., Keeler, G., Angold, A.,& Costello, E. J. (2010). Parents’ incomes and children’s outcomes: Aquasi-experiment using transfer payments from casino profits. American EconomicJournal: Applied Economics, 2(1), 86–115.Baranowska-Rataj, A., HÖgberg, B., & Bernardi, L. (2023).Parental unemployment and adolescents’ subjective wellbeing—the moderating roleof educational policies. European Sociological Review, 40(2), 276-292. Oggero, N., Devicienti, F., Rossi, M., & Vannoni, D.(2023). You can’t be what you can’t see: The role of gender in theintergenerational transmission of entrepreneurship. Review of Income andWealth, 69(3), 755-775. Shea, J. (2000). Does parents’ money matter? Journal ofPublic Economics, 77(2), 155-184.