Does Broadband Facilitate Immigration Flows? A Non-Linear Instrumental Variable Approach

Cansu Ünver ()
Additional contact information
Cansu Ünver: University of Birmingham.

Ekonomi-tek - International Economics Journal, 2015, vol. 4, issue 1, 69-104

Abstract: This paper investigates whether ICT facilitates migration flows from any one OECD member country to others, and from non-OECD to OECD countries. Among various ICT tools, we primarily focus on broadband. Our instrumental-variable model derives its non-linear first stage from a logistic diffusion model, where pre-existing voice-telephony and cable-TV networks predict maximum broadband penetration. The selection of both OECD- and non-OECD-origin countries, governed by the availability of the data, is based on the magnitude of the flows, leading us to examine those with a minimum number of 100 people (threshold 0.1) who are migrating from source to host, followed by 300 (threshold 0.3) and 500 (threshold 0.5) people. By looking at the efficacy of ICT connections, we intend to fill the gap in the literature on the relationship between communication facilities and migration decisions. We find a strong and positive effect of broadband on migration flows between 1995 and 2009. This effect is more prominent for non-OECD to OECD country pairs. The larger the threshold, the better the results.

Keywords: Determinants of migration; broadband penetration rate; non-linear instrumental variable; OECD and non-OECD countries (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C5 F22 J61 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://ekonomitek.org/pdffile/no10_09_makale3_cansu_unver.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:tek:journl:v:4:y:2015:i:1:p:69-104

Access Statistics for this article

Ekonomi-tek - International Economics Journal is currently edited by TEK Secretary

More articles in Ekonomi-tek - International Economics Journal from Turkish Economic Association Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Ercan Uygur ().