Economic aspects of international labour migration

• Published date: 01 March 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/infi.12105
• Date: 01 March 2017
• Author: Andrei Zlate,Federico S. Mandelman

DOI 10.1111/infi.12105

BOOK REVIEW

Economic aspects of international labour migration

Federico S. Mandelman

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Andrei Zlate

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Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

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Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and IZA

THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACT OF MIGRATION FLOWS: EFFECTS ON TRADE,

REMITTANCES, OUTPUT, AND THE LABOUR MARKET

Andrés Artal-Tur, Giovanni Peri, & Francisco Requena-Silvente (Eds.).

Springer, Heidelberg, Germany, 2014

IMMIGRATION ECONOMICS

George J. Borjas

Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 2014

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INTRODUCTION

What are the economic effects of international labour migration on the migrants’countries of origin

and destination? How does labour migration interact with international trade? What empirical and

theoretical approaches are used in the literature to answer these questions?

International labour migration is a timely and relevant topic, since the flow of migrant workers and

the stock of established migrants worldwide have increased dramatically in recent decades, drawing

the attention of academics and policy makers alike. In the United States, the share of foreign-born

residents in the total population has more than doubled over the past three decades, from less than 6% in

1980 to as much as 13% in 2007, and similar patterns are observed in other OECD economies (Grogger

& Hanson, 2008). Worldwide, about 3% of the population currently lives in a country other than where

they were born (Borjas, 2014). In recent years, the humanitarian drama of political refugees from

Africa and the Middle East has brought the topic of labour migration to the public attention with

renewed urgency.

Driven by economic incentives, demographic trends, or humanitarian crises, the massive flows of

international migrant workers represent a contemporaneous reality that requires greater understanding

from academics, policy makers and the public alike. In policy circles, a limited understanding of the

drivers and effects of labour migration may prompt misguided policy initiatives. While academia

should play a crucial role in informing the policy debate, academics still disagree on key aspects of

The views in this paper are solely the responsibility of the authors and should not be interpreted as reflecting the views of the

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, the Federal Reserve Board, or any other person associated

with the Federal Reserve System. We thank Eric Haavind-Berman for excellent research assistance.

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© 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/infi International Finance. 2017;20:100–112.