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Can Information and Alternatives to Irregular Migration Reduce “Backway” Migration from TheGambia ?

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  • Bah,Tijan L
  • Batista,Catia
  • Gubert,Flore
  • Mckenzie,David J.

Abstract

Irregular migration from West Africa to Europe across the Sahara and Mediterranean is extremelyrisky for migrants and a key policy concern. A cluster-randomized experiment with 3,641 young men from 391settlements in The Gambia is used to test three approaches to reducing risky migration: providing better informationand testimonials about the risks of the journey, facilitating migration to a safer destination by providinginformation and assistance for migration to Dakar, and offering vocational skill training to enhance domesticemployment opportunities. Current migration to Senegal was increased by both the Dakar facilitation and vocationaltraining treatments, partially crowding out internal migration. The vocational training treatment reducedintentions to migrate the backway and the number of steps taken toward moving. However, the backway migration ratefrom The Gambia collapsed, even in the control group, resulting in no space for a treatment effect on irregularmigration from any of the three interventions.

Suggested Citation

  • Bah,Tijan L & Batista,Catia & Gubert,Flore & Mckenzie,David J., 2022. "Can Information and Alternatives to Irregular Migration Reduce “Backway” Migration from TheGambia ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10146, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10146
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. David McKenzie & Dean Yang, 2015. "Evidence on Policies to Increase the Development Impacts of International Migration," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 30(2), pages 155-192.
    2. Emily A. Beam & David McKenzie & Dean Yang, 2016. "Unilateral Facilitation Does Not Raise International Labor Migration from the Philippines," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 64(2), pages 323-368.
    3. Batista, Catia & McKenzie, David, 2023. "Testing classic theories of migration in the lab," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    4. Stefano DellaVigna & Nicholas Otis & Eva Vivalt, 2020. "Forecasting the Results of Experiments: Piloting an Elicitation Strategy," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 110, pages 75-79, May.
    5. Nava Ashraf & Diego Aycinena & Claudia Martínez A. & Dean Yang, 2015. "Savings in Transnational Households: A Field Experiment among Migrants from El Salvador," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 97(2), pages 332-351, May.
    6. Catia Batista & Gaia Narciso, 2018. "Migrant Remittances and Information Flows: Evidence from a Field Experiment," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 32(1), pages 203-219.
    7. Michael A. Clemens & Claudio E. Montenegro & Lant Pritchett, 2019. "The Place Premium: Bounding the Price Equivalent of Migration Barriers," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 101(2), pages 201-213, May.
    8. Giambra, Samuele & McKenzie, David, 2021. "Self-employment and migration," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    9. Jules Gazeaud & Eric Mvukiyehe & Olivier Sterck, 2023. "Cash Transfers and Migration: Theory and Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 105(1), pages 143-157, January.
    10. Alexandre Belloni & Victor Chernozhukov & Christian Hansen, 2014. "Inference on Treatment Effects after Selection among High-Dimensional Controlsâ€," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 81(2), pages 608-650.
    11. Alberto Abadie & Matthew M. Chingos & Martin R. West, 2018. "Endogenous Stratification in Randomized Experiments," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 100(4), pages 567-580, October.
    12. David McKenzie & John Gibson & Steven Stillman, 2010. "How Important Is Selection? Experimental vs. Non-Experimental Measures of the Income Gains from Migration," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 8(4), pages 913-945, June.
    13. McKenzie, David & Gibson, John & Stillman, Steven, 2013. "A land of milk and honey with streets paved with gold: Do emigrants have over-optimistic expectations about incomes abroad?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 116-127.
    14. Miriam Bruhn & David McKenzie, 2009. "In Pursuit of Balance: Randomization in Practice in Development Field Experiments," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(4), pages 200-232, October.
    15. Gharad Bryan & Shyamal Chowdhury & Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak, 2014. "Underinvestment in a Profitable Technology: The Case of Seasonal Migration in Bangladesh," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 82(5), pages 1671-1748, September.
    16. Tijan L. Bah & Cátia Batista, 2018. "Understanding willingness to migrate illegally: Evidence from a lab in the field experiment," NOVAFRICA Working Paper Series wp1803, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Nova School of Business and Economics, NOVAFRICA.
    17. Mesplé-Somps, Sandrine & Nilsson, Björn, 2023. "Role models, aspirations and desire to migrate," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 819-839.
    18. Elisa M Maffioli & Manoj Mohanan, 2018. "Touching beliefs: Using touchscreen technology to elicit subjective expectations in survey research," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(11), pages 1-15, November.
    19. Beam, Emily A., 2016. "Do job fairs matter? Experimental evidence on the impact of job-fair attendance," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 32-40.
    20. Davide Viviano & Kaspar Wuthrich & Paul Niehaus, 2021. "When should you adjust inferences for multiple hypothesis testing?," Papers 2104.13367, arXiv.org, revised Dec 2023.
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    Cited by:

    1. Mesplé-Somps, Sandrine & Nilsson, Björn, 2023. "Role models, aspirations and desire to migrate," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 819-839.
    2. Fuchs, Andreas & Gröger, André & Heidland, Tobias & Wellner, Lukas, 2023. "The effect of foreign aid on migration: Global micro evidence from world bank projects," Kiel Working Papers 2257, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    3. Erminia Florio, 2023. "Information Campaigns and Migration Perceptions," CEIS Research Paper 564, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 31 Jul 2023.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

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