A Global View of Cross-Border Migration

61 Pages Posted: 2 Jun 2014

See all articles by Julian di Giovanni

Julian di Giovanni

Federal Reserve Banks - Federal Reserve Bank of New York; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Andrei A. Levchenko

University of Michigan - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Francesc Ortega

City University of New York, CUNY Queens College - Department of Economics ; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Multiple version iconThere are 3 versions of this paper

Date Written: March 2014

Abstract

This paper evaluates the global welfare impact of observed levels of migration using a quantitative multi-sector model of the world economy calibrated to aggregate and firm-level data. Our framework features cross-country labor productivity difference, international trade, remittances, and a heterogeneous workforce. We compare welfare under the observed levels of migration to a no-migration counterfactual. In the long run, natives in countries that received a lot of migration -- such as Canada or Australia -- are better off due to greater product variety available in consumption and as intermediate inputs. In the short run the impact of migration on average welfare in these countries is close to zero, while the skilled and unskilled natives tend to experience welfare changes of opposite signs. The remaining natives in countries with large emigration flows -- such as Jamaica or El Salvador -- are also better off due to migration, but for a different reason: remittances. The welfare impact of observed levels of migration is substantial, at about 5 to 10% for the main receiving countries and about 10% in countries with large incoming remittances. Our results are robust to accounting for imperfect transferability of skills, selection into migration, and imperfect substitution between natives and immigrants.

Keywords: International Trade, Migration, Remittances, Welfare

JEL Classification: F12, F15, F22, F24

Suggested Citation

di Giovanni, Julian and Levchenko, Andrei A. and Ortega, Francesc, A Global View of Cross-Border Migration (March 2014). CEPR Discussion Paper No. DP9919, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2444942

Julian Di Giovanni (Contact Author)

Federal Reserve Banks - Federal Reserve Bank of New York ( email )

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HOME PAGE: http://julian.digiovanni.ca

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) ( email )

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Andrei A. Levchenko

University of Michigan - Department of Economics ( email )

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National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

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Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) ( email )

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Francesc Ortega

City University of New York, CUNY Queens College - Department of Economics ( email )

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Flushing, NY 11367-1597
United States

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

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