Migration Outflows and Optimal Migration Policy: Rules versus Discretion

Ismael Issifou and Francesco Magris
Additional contact information
Ismael Issifou: LEO - Laboratoire d'Économie d'Orleans [UMR7322] - UO - Université d'Orléans - UT - Université de Tours - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

Working Papers from HAL

Abstract: We study the effects of more open borders on return migration and show that migrants are more likely to return to the origin country when migration rules are softer, because this implies that they could more easily re-migrate if return migration is unsuccessful. As a result, softening migration rules leads to lower net in ows than generally acknowledged. We show that if government follows rules to shape the optimal migration policy, it will chose more open borders than in the case its behavior is discretionary. However, this requires an appropriate commitment technology. We show that electoral accountability may be a solution of the commitment problem. As a matter of fact, observed softer immigration rules in western countries suggest the effectiveness of such a mechanism.

Keywords: Migration Return; Optimal Migration Policy; Time Consis- tency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mig
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-01251421v1
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://shs.hal.science/halshs-01251421v1/document (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Migration outflows and optimal migration policy: rules versus discretion (2017)
Working Paper: Migration outflows and optimal migration policy: rules versus discretion (2017)
Working Paper: Migration Outflows and Optimal Migration Policy: Rules versus Discretion (2015)
Working Paper: Migration Outflows and Optimal Migration Policy: Rules versus Discretion (2015)
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:hal:wpaper:halshs-01251421

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().