Refugees' and Irregular Migrants' Self-Selection into Europe: Who Migrates Where?

Cevat Giray Aksoy and Panu Poutvaara

No 12800, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We analyze self-selection of refugees and irregular migrants and test our theory in the context of the European refugee crisis. Using unique datasets from the International Organization for Migration and Gallup World Polls, we provide the first large-scale evidence on reasons to emigrate, and the self-selection and sorting of refugees and irregular migrants. Refugees and female irregular migrants are positively self-selected with respect to human capital, while male irregular migrants are negatively self-selected. These patterns are similar when analyzing individually stated main reason to emigrate, country-level conflict intensity, and sub-regional conflict intensity. Migrants respond to economic incentives and border policies.

Keywords: human capital; international migration; refugees; irregular migrants; self-selection; gender differences in migration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F22 J15 J16 J24 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 80 pages
Date: 2019-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-int, nep-lab and nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

Published - revised version published as 'Refugees' and irregular migrants' self-selection into Europe' in: Journal of Development Economics, 2021, 152, 102681

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Related works:
Working Paper: Refugees’ and Irregular Migrants’ Self-selection into Europe: Who Migrates Where? (2020)
Working Paper: Refugees' and Irregular Migrants' Self-Selection into Europe: Who Migrates Where? (2019)
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