Migration, the Quality of the Labour Force and Economic Inequality

Martin Kahanec and Klaus F. Zimmermann ()

No 781, Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin from DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research

Abstract: Mobility of workers involves flows of labour, human capital and other production factors and thus contributes to a more efficient allocation of resources. Besides these effects on allocative efficiency, migrant flows affect relative wages and also change the international and national distribution of skills and thereby equality in the receiving society. This paper suggests that skilled immigration promotes economic equality in advanced economies under standard conditions. The context is theoretically explained in a core model and empirically documented using unique data from the WIID database and OECD.

Keywords: Inequality; income distribution; human capital; skill allocation; migration; ethnicity; minority; Gini-coefficient (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D33 E25 F22 J15 J61 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab
Date: Written 2008
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Related works:
Working Paper: Migration, the Quality of the Labour Force and Economic Inequality (2008)
Working Paper: Migration, the Quality of the Labour Force and Economic Inequality (2008)
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