Evidence on Policies to Increase the Development Impacts of International Migration
International migration offers individuals and their families the potential to experience immediate and large gains in their incomes, and offers a large number of other positive benefits to the sending communities and countries. However, there are...
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| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank Group, Washington, DC
2014
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/10/20272192/evidence-policies-increase-development-impacts-international-migration http://hdl.handle.net/10986/20505 |
| Summary: | International migration offers
individuals and their families the potential to experience
immediate and large gains in their incomes, and offers a
large number of other positive benefits to the sending
communities and countries. However, there are also concerns
about potential costs of migration, including concerns about
trafficking and human rights, a desire for remittances to be
used more effectively, and concerns about externalities from
skilled workers being lost. As a result there is increasing
interest in policies which can enhance the development
benefits of international migration and mitigate these
potential costs. This paper provides a critical review of
recent research on the effectiveness of these policies at
three stages of the migration process: pre-departure, during
migration, and directed toward possible return. The existing
evidence base suggests some areas of policy success:
bilateral migration agreements for countries whose workers
have few other migration options, developing new savings and
remittance products that allow migrants more control over
how their money is used, and some efforts to provide
financial education to migrants and their families.
Suggestive evidence together with theory offers support for
a number of other policies, such as lowering the cost of
remittances, reducing passport costs, offering dual
citizenship, and removing exit barriers to migration.
Research offers reasons to be cautious about some policies,
such as enforcing strong rights for migrants like high
minimum wages. Nevertheless, the paper finds the evidence
base to be weak for many policies, with no reliable research
on the impact of most return migration programs, nor for
whether countries should be trying to induce communal
remitting through matching funds. |
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