Eliciting illegal migration rates through list randomization

David McKenzie and Siegel M.
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Siegel M.: UNU-MERIT

No 2013-023, MERIT Working Papers from United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT)

Abstract: Most migration surveys do not ask about the legal status of migrants due to concerns about the sensitivity of this question. List randomization is a technique that has been used in a number of other social science applications to elicit sensitive information. We trial this technique by adding it to surveys conducted in Ethiopia, Mexico, Morocco and the Philippines. We show how, in principle, this can be used to both give an estimate of the overall rate of illegal migration in the population being surveyed, as well as to determine illegal migration rates for subgroups such as more or less educated households. Our results suggest that there is some indication in this method we find higher rates of illegal migrationin countries where illegal migration is thought to be more prevalent and households who say they have a migrant are more likely to report having an illegal migrant. Nevertheless, some of our other findings also suggest some possible inconsistencies or noise in the conclusions obtained using this method, so wesuggest directions for future attempts to implement this approach in migration surveys.

Keywords: Survey Methods; Sampling Methods; International Migration; Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers; Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C83 F22 J61 K42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-law and nep-mig
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Eliciting Illegal migration rates through list randomization (2013)
Working Paper: Eliciting Illegal Migration Rates through List Randomization (2013)
Working Paper: Eliciting illegal migration rates through list randomization (2013)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:unm:unumer:2013023

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