"Go West, Young Man, Go West!"?

Peter Bushnell and Wai Kin Choy ()
Additional contact information
Wai Kin Choy: New Zealand Treasury, https://treasury.govt.nz/

No 01/07, Treasury Working Paper Series from New Zealand Treasury

Abstract: Will economic integration lead to skilled citizens being drawn to the larger, richer economic partner? In 1983, Australia and New Zealand signed the Closer Economic Relations Agreement to ensure free trade in goods and services. Was this a modern equivalent of Horace Greeley's famous advice "Go West, young man, go West"? The evidence presented in this paper suggests that Greeley was right; many have indeed gone westward. However, a common labour market has not led to a brain drain. Paradoxically, the effect has been to increase the numbers of lower-skilled migrants from New Zealand and those with higher skills who are older or are not within the approved occupational groupings. The Trans-Tasman picture is further complicated by migration to New Zealand from third countries sufficient to offset the outflow of New Zealand citizens. The imbalance in net migration from New Zealand toward Australia has led to policy tensions. These are discussed briefly.

Keywords: international migration; brain drain (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F22 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 23 pages
Date: 2001
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

Downloads: (external link)
https://treasury.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2007-10/twp01-07.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
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:nzt:nztwps:01/07

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Treasury Working Paper Series from New Zealand Treasury New Zealand Treasury, PO Box 3724, Wellington 6140, New Zealand. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CSS I&T Web & Publishing, The Treasury ().