Tradable immigration quotas revisited

Martin Hagen

Journal of Public Economics, 2022, vol. 208, issue C

Abstract: This paper revisits the theory behind tradable immigration quotas, which have been proposed to raise South-North migration and, specifically, refugee resettlement. We qualify previous research by showing that tradable immigration quotas are generally not utilitarian efficient for host countries. The reason is that global migration entails more complex externalities than other public-good problems, such as environmental protection, where market-based instruments are common. The inefficiency is exacerbated when migrants are matched to countries. Despite these caveats, we offer new results in favor of tradable immigration quotas plus matching.

Keywords: Immigration; Asylum; Tradable quotas; Cap and trade; Matching; Externalities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C78 D62 F22 F55 H23 H41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:208:y:2022:i:c:s0047272722000214

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2022.104619

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