A European expert with years of experience analyzing the impact of international migration trends will share his research with West Virginia University as the next speaker in the WVU Regional Research Institute’s seminar series set for 12:30 p.m. Thursday (Feb. 16) in 325 Brooks Hall.

Peter Nijkamp is a professor in regional and urban economics and in economic geography at the VU University, Amsterdam and a recipient of the most prestigious scientific prize in the Netherlands – the Spinoza award. His WVU appearance is titled “Migration Impact Assessment: New Horizons,” which will focus on the social-economic consequences of foreign migration, mainly at local and regional levels.

His migration assessment work takes into consideration the income; employment; business, trade and tourism; innovation; and cultural diversity effects of current migrations. Estimates are that there are about 160 million migrants throughout the world who fit the widely used definition of migrants: persons who have been outside their country of birth or citizenship for a period of 12 months or longer.

“The worldwide political and economic turbulence has prompted the emergence of massive population flows moving to other countries with many positive but also negative consequences,” Nijkamp wrote with VU University Amsterdam colleague Karima Kourtit. “Migration is, in an open world, a natural phenomenon. It is plausible that we are entering a new age of migration. Forced migration (e.g. refugees) calls for humanitarian aid, while voluntary migration (e.g. guest workers, pensionado’s) requires different perspective. In the developed world, the size of current immigration flows into urban areas often, but not exclusively, has become a source of public and policy concern and has led to heated debates on the actual or expected impacts of large diverse flows of foreign migrants on the constellation of socio-economic characteristics of cities.”

He concludes that migration does in general create a modest to substantial contribution to local economies as well as serve as “a source of inspiration for original scientific research.”

Nijkamp’s seminar presentation will offer an overview of methods used to assess migration effects.

His main research interests cover regional and urban modeling, transport systems analysis, mathematical systems modeling, technological innovation, entrepreneurship, environmental and resource management and sustainable development.

He has focused his research on new quantitative methods for policy analysis as well as analysis of economic agents. He has a broad expertise in the area of public policy, services planning, infrastructure management, and environmental protection. In all these fields he has published many books and numerous articles.

Nijkamp is a member of editorial/advisory boards of more than 30 journals. He has been a visiting professor in many universities all over the world and is listed as one of the top 30 economists worldwide. He is past president of the European Regional Science Association and of the Regional Science Association International. He is also a Fellow and past vice-president of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences. He has served as president of the governing board of the Netherlands Research Council.

In addition, he is past president of the European Heads of Research Councils. He is also Fellow of the Academia Europaea and a member of many international scientific organizations. He has acted regularly as advisor to (inter)national bodies and (local and national) governments.

Nijkamp’s seminar is sponsored by the WV Regional Research Institute. RRI has served as an internationally recognized center for the advancement of Regional Science – an interdisciplinary field at the intersection of geography, economics, and planning. Its research focuses on theories and history of regional development, methods for studying regions, and policies for stimulating their development.

A key goal of RRI is to create learning opportunities and bring together scholars from across campus and around the world to create an intellectually rich environment for the conduct of regional research.

-WVU-

gg/02/10/12

CONTACT: Caigan McKenzie, WVU Regional Research Institute
304.293.2897, caigan.mckenzie@mail.wvu.edu

Follow @WVUToday on Twitter.