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Selling the right to immigrate to the highest
bidders would allocate visas efficiently but might raise ethical
concerns
Many immigrant destination countries face
considerable pressure to change their immigration policies. One of the most
innovative policies is auctioning the right to immigrate or to hire a
foreign worker to the highest bidders. Visa auctions would be more efficient
than current ways of allocating visas, could boost the economic contribution
of immigration to the destination country, and would increase government
revenues. However, visa auctions might weaken the importance of family ties
in the migration process and create concerns about fairness and
accessibility. No country has yet auctioned visas, although several have
considered doing so.
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There are important trade-offs between temporary
and permanent migration
Many migrants do not stay in their host
countries permanently. On average, 15% of migrants leave their host country
in a given year, many of whom will return to their home countries. Temporary
migration benefits sending countries through remittances, investment, and
skills accumulation. Receiving countries benefit via increases in their
prime-working age populations while facing fewer social security
obligations. These fiscal benefits must be balanced against lower incentives
to integrate and invest in host country specific skills for temporary
migrants.
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Push and pull factors drive the decision to stay
or move
There are a myriad of economic and non-economic
forces behind the decision to migrate. Migrants can be “pushed” out of their
home countries due to deteriorating economic conditions or political unrest.
Conversely, migrants are often “pulled” into destinations that offer high
wages, good health care, strong educational systems, or linguistic
proximity. In making their decision, individuals compare the net benefits of
migration to the costs. By better understanding what forces affect specific
migrant flows (e.g. demographic characteristics, migrant networks, and
economic conditions), policymakers can set policy to target (or reduce)
certain types of migrants.
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Studying abroad benefits the students, the host
country, and those remaining at home
In knowledge-based economies, attracting and
retaining international students can help expand the skilled workforce.
Empirical evidence suggests that open migration policies and labor markets,
whereby students can remain in the host country post-study, as well as good
quality higher education institutions are crucial for successfully
attracting international students. Student migration can positively affect
economic growth in both sending and receiving countries, even though
migrants themselves reap most of the gains, mainly through higher
earnings.
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Refugee status and country of origin shape the
economic outcomes of newcomer children later in life
The number of refugees has increased worldwide,
and about half of them are children and youth. These refugee children arrive
in resettlement countries with a unique set of challenges caused by, for
instance, extreme stress and trauma that call for specific policies to
address their needs. Yet, the long-term effect of refugee status on newcomer
children's economic trajectories varies by country of origin, signaling the
need for effective resettlement support and initiatives to tackle broader
systemic barriers for newcomer children, beyond refugees. Such findings
challenge the commonly held notion of refugees as a distinctive, relatively
homogeneous group with similar trajectories.
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Immigration may boost foreign direct
investment, productivity, and housing investment
Migration policies need to consider how
immigration affects investment behavior and productivity, and how these
effects vary with the type of migration. College-educated immigrants may do
more to stimulate foreign direct investment and research and development
than low-skilled immigrants, and productivity effects would be expected to
be highest for immigrants in scientific and engineering fields. By raising
the demand for housing, immigration also spurs residential investment.
However, residential investment is unlikely to expand enough to prevent
housing costs from rising, which has important distributional
implications.
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The combination of tradable quotas and matching
would benefit host countries as well as refugees
Ever since the major inflow of refugees (the
“refugee crisis”) in 2015 and 2016, there has been heated debate about the
appropriate distribution of refugees in the EU. Current policies revolve
around mandatory quotas, which disregard the preferences of EU members and
refugees alike. This problem can be addressed with two market mechanisms.
First, tradable quotas minimize the cost of asylum provision for host
countries. Second, a matching system gives refugees more discretion over
where they are sheltered. While this proposal is theoretically appealing, it
has yet to be tested in practice.
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While legalization benefits most unauthorized
immigrants, deciding how to regularize them is challenging
Countries have adopted a variety of legalization
programs to address unauthorized immigration. Research in the US finds
improved labor market outcomes for newly authorized immigrants. Findings are
more mixed for European and Latin American countries where informal labor
markets play a large role and programs are often small scale. Despite
unclear labor market outcomes and mixed public support, legalization will
likely continue to be widely used. Comprehensive legislation can address the
complex nature of legalization on immigrants and on native-born
residents.
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Economic integration of refugees into their host
country is important and benefits both parties
Refugee migration has increased considerably
since the Second World War, and amounts to more than 50 million refugees.
Only a minority of these refugees seek asylum, and even fewer resettle in
developed countries. At the same time, politicians, the media, and the
public are worried about a lack of economic integration. Refugees start at a
lower employment and income level, but subsequently “catch up” to the level
of family unification migrants. However, both refugees and family migrants
do not “catch up” to the economic integration levels of labor migrants. A
faster integration process would significantly benefit refugees and their
new host countries.
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The European migration crisis of 2015–2016
exposed weaknesses in the asylum system that have been only partly
addressed
The migration crisis of 2015–2016 threw the
European asylum system into disarray. The arrival of more than two million
unauthorized migrants stretched the system to its breaking point and created
a public opinion backlash. The existing system is one in which migrants risk
life and limb to gain (often unauthorized) entry to the EU in order to lodge
claims for asylum, more than half of which are rejected. Reforms introduced
during the crisis only partially address the system's glaring weaknesses. In
particular, they shift the balance only slightly away from a regime of
spontaneous asylum-seeking to one of refugee resettlement.
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