IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/iza/izawol/journly2015n123.html

Who benefits from return migration to developing countries?

Author

Listed:
  • Jackline Wahba

    (University of Southampton, UK, and IZA, Germany)

Abstract

Return migration can have multiple benefits. It allows migrants who have accumulated savings abroad to ease credit constraints at home and set up a business. Also, emigrants from developing countries who have invested in their human capital may earn higher wages when they return. However, whether the home country benefits from return migrants depends on the migrant’s success in accumulating savings and human capital and on the home country’s ability to make use of returnees' skills and investment. To benefit from returnees, home countries need policies that encourage returnees' investment and labor market reintegration.

Suggested Citation

  • Jackline Wahba, 2015. "Who benefits from return migration to developing countries?," World of Labour, LISER, pages 123-123, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:iza:izawol:journl:y:2015:n:123
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://wol.iza.org/articles/who-benefits-from-return-migration-to-developing-countries-1.pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: http://wol.iza.org/articles/who-benefits-from-return-migration-to-developing-countries
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Erik Hanushek & Stephen Machin & Ludger Woessmann (ed.), 2011. "Handbook of the Economics of Education," Handbook of the Economics of Education, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 4, number 4, June.
    2. Bertoli, Simone & Marchetta, Francesca, 2015. "Bringing It All Back Home – Return Migration and Fertility Choices," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 27-40.
    3. Martin RUHS, 2006. "The potential of temporary migration programmes in future international migration policy," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 145(1-2), pages 7-36, March.
    4. Steffen Reinhold & Kevin Thom, 2013. "Migration Experience and Earnings in the Mexican Labor Market," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 48(3), pages 768-820.
    5. Catia Batista & Pedro C. Vicente, 2011. "Do Migrants Improve Governance at Home? Evidence from a Voting Experiment," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 25(1), pages 77-104, May.
    6. Dustmann, Christian & Glitz, Albrecht, 2011. "Migration and Education," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & Stephen Machin & Ludger Woessmann (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 327-439, Elsevier.
    7. Alice Mesnard, 2004. "Temporary migration and capital market imperfections," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 56(2), pages 242-262, April.
    8. Antonio Spilimbergo, 2009. "Democracy and Foreign Education," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(1), pages 528-543, March.
    9. Erik Hanushek & Stephen Machin & Ludger Woessmann (ed.), 2011. "Handbook of the Economics of Education," Handbook of the Economics of Education, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 3, number 3, June.
    10. Bijwaard, Govert E. & Wahba, Jackline, 2014. "Do high-income or low-income immigrants leave faster?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 54-68.
    11. Wahba, Jackline & Zenou, Yves, 2012. "Out of sight, out of mind: Migration, entrepreneurship and social capital," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(5), pages 890-903.
    12. George J. Borjas & Bernt Bratsberg, 2021. "Who Leaves? The Outmigration Of The Foreign-Born," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Foundational Essays in Immigration Economics, chapter 5, pages 93-104, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    13. Simone Bertoli & Francesca Marchetta, 2015. "Bringing It All Back Home – Return Migration and Fertility Choices," Post-Print halshs-01141668, HAL.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Swain, Sukanta Chandra & Padhi, Sunil Kumar, 2020. "Economic Activities for Repatriated Migrant Workers of India: A Framework for Rural Development," Asian Journal of Agriculture and Rural Development, Asian Economic and Social Society (AESS), vol. 10(03), January.
    2. Hazans, Mihails, 2018. "What drives earnings of return migrants? Evidence from Latvia," MPRA Paper 118599, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Shrimoyee Ganguly, 2022. "Reverse migration and exports at extensive margin: case of a small dependent economy," Indian Economic Review, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 321-348, December.
    4. Miao Chi & Michael Coon, 2020. "Variations in Naturalization Premiums by Country of Origin," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 46(1), pages 102-125, January.
    5. Philip L. Martin, 2016. "Migration, Trade and Remittances: Low- and High-Skilled Workers," Remittances Review, Remittances Review, vol. 1(1), pages 39-52, October.
    6. Fransen, Sonja & Ruiz, Isabel & Vargas-Silva, Carlos, 2017. "Return Migration and Economic Outcomes in the Conflict Context," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 196-210.
    7. World Bank, 2020. "Towards Safer and More Productive Migration for South Asia," World Bank Publications - Reports 33559, The World Bank Group.
    8. Sukanta Chandra Swain & Sunil Kumar Padhi, 2020. "Economic Activities for Repatriated Migrant Workers of India: A Framework for Rural Development," Asian Journal of Agriculture and rural Development, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 10(3), pages 749-755, October.
    9. S. Irudaya Rajan & S. Amuthan, 2022. "Labour Force, Occupational Changes and Socioeconomic Level of Return Emigrants in India," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 865-887, June.
    10. Amer Ahmed & Laurent Bossavie, 2022. "Toward Safer and More Productive Migration for South Asia," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 37444, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wahba, Jackline, 2026. "Return migration and economic development: opportunities and challenges," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    2. Jackline Wahba, 2015. "Selection, selection, selection: the impact of return migration," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 28(3), pages 535-563, July.
    3. Jackline Wahba, 2014. "Return migration and economic development," Chapters, in: Robert E.B. Lucas (ed.), International Handbook on Migration and Economic Development, chapter 12, pages 327-349, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Laurent Bossavie & Çağlar Özden, 2023. "Impacts of Temporary Migration on Development in Origin Countries," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 38(2), pages 249-294.
    5. Amelie F. Constant, 2020. "Time-Space Dynamics of Return and Circular Migration: Theories and Evidence," CESifo Working Paper Series 8053, CESifo.
    6. Michele Tuccio & Jackline Wahba & Bachir Hamdouch, 2019. "International migration as a driver of political and social change: evidence from Morocco," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 32(4), pages 1171-1203, October.
    7. Tuccio, Michele & Wahba, Jackline, 2018. "Return migration and the transfer of gender norms: Evidence from the Middle East," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 1006-1029.
    8. Christian Dustmann & Joseph-Simon Görlach, 2016. "The Economics of Temporary Migrations," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 54(1), pages 98-136, March.
    9. Mahé, Clothilde, 2016. "Skills and entrepreneurship: Are return migrants 'Jacks-of-all-trades'?," MERIT Working Papers 2016-071, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    10. Elisabetta Lodigiani & Sara Salomone, 2015. "Migration-induced Transfers of Norms. Political Empowerment?The case of Female Political Empowerment," Working Papers 2015:19, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    11. Steinar Strøm & Alessandra Venturini & Claudia Villosio, 2013. "Wage assimilation: migrants versus natives and foreign migrants versus internal migrants," RSCAS Working Papers 2013/30, European University Institute.
    12. Batista, Catia & Seither, Julia & Vicente, Pedro C., 2019. "Do migrant social networks shape political attitudes and behavior at home?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 328-343.
    13. Catia Batista & Tara McIndoe-Calder & Pedro C. Vicente, 2017. "Return Migration, Self-selection and Entrepreneurship," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 79(5), pages 797-821, October.
    14. World Bank Group, 2017. "Migration and Remittances," World Bank Publications - Reports 28444, The World Bank Group.
    15. Simone Bertoli, 2015. "Does return migration influence fertility at home?," World of Labour, LISER, pages 204-204, November.
    16. Bossavie, Laurent & Görlach, Joseph-Simon & Özden, Çaglar & Wang, He, 2025. "Temporary migration for long-term investment," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    17. Ferrant, Gaëlle & Tuccio, Michele, 2015. "South–South Migration and Discrimination Against Women in Social Institutions: A Two-way Relationship," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 240-254.
    18. Tuccio, Michele & Wahba, Jackline, 2020. "Social Remittances," GLO Discussion Paper Series 609, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    19. Marco Di Cintio & Emanuele Grassi, 2016. "The returns to temporary migration: The case of Italian Ph.D.s," EERI Research Paper Series EERI RP 2016/15, Economics and Econometrics Research Institute (EERI), Brussels.
    20. Sandra Orozco-Aleman & Heriberto Gonzalez-Lozano, 2021. "Return Migration and Self-Employment: Evidence from Mexican Migrants," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 42(2), pages 148-183, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

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

    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:iza:izawol:journl:y:2015:n:123. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Olga Nottmeyer (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaalu.html .

    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.