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Can a deportation policy backfire?

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  • Stark, Oded
  • Byra, Lukasz

Abstract

Drawing on a model in which utility is derived from consumption and effort (labor supply), we ask how the deportation of a number of undocumented migrants influences the decisions regarding labor supply, consumption, and savings of the remaining undocumented migrants. We assume that the intensity of deportation serves as an indicator to the remaining undocumented migrants when they assess the probability of being deported. We find that a higher rate of deportation induces undocumented migrants to work harder, consume less and, as a result of those responses, to save more. Assuming that the purpose of deportation policy is to reduce the aggregate labor supply of undocumented migrants in order to raise the wages of low-skilled native workers, we conclude that the policy can backfire: an increase in the labor supply of the remaining undocumented migrants can more than offset the reduction in the labor supply arising from the deportation of some undocumented migrants. Simulation shows that if the number of deportations in relation to the size of the undocumented migrant workforce is small, then the combined effect of the reduction in the labor supply of the deportees and the increase in the labor supply of the remaining undocumented migrants can be that the aggregate labor supply of undocumented migrants will increase. It follows that an effective deportation policy has to involve the expulsion of a substantial proportion of the total number of undocumented migrants in the workforce.

Suggested Citation

  • Stark, Oded & Byra, Lukasz, 2019. "Can a deportation policy backfire?," University of Tübingen Working Papers in Business and Economics 122, University of Tuebingen, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, School of Business and Economics.
  • Handle: RePEc:zbw:tuewef:122
    DOI: 10.15496/publikation-34262
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    Cited by:

    1. Stark, Oded, 2023. "A rejoinder to "The impact of infectious diseases on remittances inflows to India"," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 677-680.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Consumption of undocumented migrants; Labor supply of undocumentedmigrants; Savings of undocumented migrants; Aggregate labor supply ofundocumented migrants; Efficacy of a deportation policy of a number ofundocumented migrants;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • 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
    • J78 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Public Policy (including comparable worth)

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