Beyond Their Borders – Economic Freedom: Uncovering One of the Motivations of Unauthorized Migration to the U.S.A

Rafael Acevedo and Juan Bogado
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Rafael Acevedo: Menard Family Center for Economic Inquiry, Creighton University, Omaha, NE, USA
Juan Bogado: Econintech, Miami, FL, USA

Economic Analysis Letters, 2025, vol. 4, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: This study documents the relationship between economic freedom and unauthorized immigration to the U.S.A. and tries to answer a still-in-debate question, what motivates people to unauthorizedly migrate? Using the generated instrument variables methodology, and a data panel of 15 countries and 16 years, the endogenous variable is the gap in economic freedom between the country of origin and the U.S., and the dependent variable is the unauthorized immigrant’s growth rate. The results show that for each 10% improvement in economic freedom in the country-of-origin unauthorized immigration decreases around 7%. Estimations are robust even after using other covariates and external instruments. The main conclusion is that economic and social factors play a significant role in shaping migration patterns and that the difference in economic freedom between the country of origin and the U.S. plays a fundamental role in deciding to unauthorizedly migrate

Keywords: unauthorized immigration; economic freedom; United States; institutions; social factors. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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