Want Freedom, Will Travel: Emigrant Self-Selection According to Institutional Quality

Maryam Naghsh Nejad and Andrew Young ()

No 9309, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We investigate emigrant self-selection according to institutional quality using up to 3,566 observations on bilateral migration flows from 77 countries over the 1990-2000 period. We relate these flows to differences in political and economic institutions. We improve and expand upon previous studies by (i) examining decade-long migration flows that (ii) include flows not only to OECD countries but also to non-OECD countries; also (iii) utilizing an estimation method that takes into account the information in zero value migration flows and (iv) examining not only total migration flows but also college-educated and non-college educated subsamples separately. We find that economic freedoms are a significant pull factor for potential migrants. Once economic freedoms are controlled for, measures of political institutions do not enter significantly into our estimations. Results are similar for college- and non-college-educated subsamples. Improvements in legal systems and property rights appear to be the strongest pull factor for potential migrants.

Keywords: institutions; democracy; economic freedom; emigration; brain drain (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F22 O43 P51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 31 pages
Date: 2015-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mig
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Published - published in: European Journal of Political Economy, 2016, 45, 71-84

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Journal Article: Want freedom, will travel: Emigrant self-selection according to institutional quality (2016)
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