Citation

Discussion Paper Details

Please find the details for DP3559 in an easy to copy and paste format below:

Full Details   |   Bibliographic Reference

Full Details

Title: What Fundamentals Drive World Migration?

Author(s): Timothy J. Hatton and Jeffrey G Williamson

Publication Date: September 2002

Keyword(s): international migration

Programme Area(s): Labour Economics

Abstract: OECD governments note rising immigration with alarm and grapple with policies aimed at selecting certain migrants and keeping out others. Economists appear to be well armed to advise governments since they are responsible for an impressive literature that examines the characteristics of individual immigrants, their absorption and the consequences of their migration on both sending and receiving regions. Economists are, however, much less well armed to speak to the determinants of the world migrations that give rise to public alarm. This Paper offers a quantitative assessment of the economic and demographic fundamentals that have driven and are driving world migration, across different historical epochs and around the world. The Paper is organized around three questions: how do the standard theories of migration perform when confronted with evidence drawn from more than a century of world migration experience? How do inequality and poverty influence world migration? Is it useful to distinguish between migration pressure and migration ex-post, or between the potential demand for visas and the actual use of them?

For full details and related downloads, please visit: https://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=3559

Bibliographic Reference

Hatton, T and Williamson, J. 2002. 'What Fundamentals Drive World Migration?'. London, Centre for Economic Policy Research. https://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=3559