A Global View of Cross-Border Migration

Julian di Giovanni, Andrei Levchenko and Francesc Ortega

No 6584, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper evaluates the welfare impact of observed levels of migration and remittances in both origins and destinations, using a quantitative multi-sector model of the global economy calibrated to aggregate and firm-level data on 60 developed and developing countries. Our framework accounts jointly for origin and destination characteristics, as well as the inherently multi-country nature of both migration and other forms of integration, such as international trade and remittance flows. In the presence of firm heterogeneity and imperfect competition larger countries enjoy a greater number of varieties and thus higher welfare, all else equal. Because of this effect, natives in countries that received a lot of migration – such as Canada or Australia – are better off. The remaining natives in countries with large emigration flows – such as Jamaica or El Salvador – are also better off due to migration, but for a different reason: remittances. The quantitative results show that the welfare impact of observed levels of migration is substantial, at about 5 to 10% for the main receiving countries and about 10% for the main sending countries.

Keywords: migration; remittances; international trade; welfare (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F12 F15 F22 F24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 49 pages
Date: 2012-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-int and nep-mig
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (18)

Published - published in: Journal of the European Economic Association, 2015, 13 (1), 168-202

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https://docs.iza.org/dp6584.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: A GLOBAL VIEW OF CROSS-BORDER MIGRATION (2015)
Working Paper: A Global View of Cross-Border Migration (2014)
Working Paper: A Global View of Cross-Border Migration (2014)
Working Paper: A global view of cross-border migration (2014)
Working Paper: A Global View of Cross-Border Migration (2012)
Working Paper: A Global View of Cross-Border Migration (2012)
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