Spatial dependence in asylum migration

Fabian Barthel and Eric Neumayer

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: Existing refugees in a destination country from the same source country reduce the uncertainty faced by subsequent asylum migrants since existing refugees can provide information and assistance. We argue that such network effects extend beyond the borders of specific source countries. Potential asylum migrants might also be able to draw on networks from geographically proximate as well as linguistically similar countries and from countries having previously been colonized by the same destination country, thus creating spatial dependence in asylum migration among source countries. Many destination countries meanwhile aspire to reduce the inflow of migrants by tightening their asylum policies. Target countries which restrict their policies relatively more than other destinations deflect some asylum migrants to geographically proximate destination countries, thus creating spatial dependence among target countries. We find evidence for both types of spatial dependence in our global analysis of asylum migration. However, while statistically significant, the degree of spatial dependence among target countries is modest. On the source side, there is evidence for modest spatial dependence among linguistically similar countries and no evidence for spatial dependence among countries which were previously colonized by the same destination country. By contrast, we find substantial spatial dependence among geographically proximate source countries

Keywords: migration; migrant networks; asylum policy; externalities; spatial dependence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F22 J15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mig
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (29)

Published in Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 2015, 41(7), pp. 1131-1151. ISSN: 1369-183X

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:64187

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