IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cup/demeco/v90y2024i3p352-383_2.html

Selecting only the best and brightest? An assessment of migration policy selectivity and its effectiveness

Author

Listed:
  • Rayp, Glenn
  • Ruyssen, Ilse
  • Standaert, Samuel

Abstract

This paper introduces a new set of comprehensive and cross-country-comparable indexes of migration policy selectivity. Crucially, these reflect the multidimensional nature of the differential treatment of migrants. We use these indexes to study the evolution of migration policy selectivity and estimate how they affect migration flows. Combining all publicly available and relevant data since WWII, we build three composite indexes that identify selectivity in terms of skills, economic resources and nationality. First, we use these to characterize migration policies in 42 countries between 1990 and 2014. Second, we examine the relationship between the selectivity of migration policy and migration flows. Each of the three dimensions of migration policy is found to correlate strongly and significantly with both the size and structure of migration flows.

Suggested Citation

  • Rayp, Glenn & Ruyssen, Ilse & Standaert, Samuel, 2024. "Selecting only the best and brightest? An assessment of migration policy selectivity and its effectiveness," Journal of Demographic Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 90(3), pages 352-383, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:cup:demeco:v:90:y:2024:i:3:p:352-383_2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2054089224000099/type/journal_article
    File Function: link to article abstract page
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cup:demeco:v:90:y:2024:i:3:p:352-383_2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kirk Stebbing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cambridge.org/dem .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.