Learning about migration through experiments

David McKenzie

No 1207, RFBerlin Discussion Paper Series from Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin)

Abstract: International migration is one of the most important choices that individuals and households in poor countries can make to increase their lifetime wellbeing. This choice presents a severe challenge to researchers attempting to learn the impacts of migration, since those who choose to move typically differ in a host of observable and unobservable ways from those who choose to stay behind. This paper provides an overview of a new experimental literature which uses policy experiments and researcher-designed experiments to overcome these selection issues. Particular emphasis is placed on discussing the different datagathering strategies needed for conducing policy experiments. Experimental migration research as a field is still in its nascent stages, and there appears to be plenty of scope for both policymakers and researchers to design new experiments going forward – it is hoped that the summary here will aid researchers and policymakers in this purpose.

Keywords: Migration; Experiments; Selection; Data Gathering Methods. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp and nep-mig
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:crm:wpaper:1207

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