DP2714 The Political Economy of International Migration in a Ricardo-Viner Model

Author(s):	Jaime de Melo, Jean-Marie Grether, Tobias Müller
Publication Date:	February 2001
Keyword(s):	Direct Democracy, International Migration
JEL(s):	D72, F22, J61
Programme Areas:	International Trade and Regional Economics
Link to this Page:	cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=2714

Determinants of national policies towards immigration are analysed in the context of an economy open to international trade. Arguments for the existence of an ?immigration surplus? are reviewed and followed by an interpretative survey of the principal contributions of the political economy literature, emphasising the role of the determinants of individual preferences in a direct democracy framework. A median voter model is grafted on several variants of a specific-factor open-economy model to discuss several recent changes in attitudes towards immigration (a stiffened stance, especially towards the unskilled) and in national policies (?melting-pot? vs. guest-worker programs, coexistence of legal and illegal immigrants, lax enforcement towards illegals).