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Deep trade agreements and international migration: The role of visa provisions

In: Beyond Trade: How deep trade agreements shape non-trade outcomes

Author

Listed:
  • Levelu, Anthonin
  • Mayda, Anna Maria
  • Orefice, Gianluca

Abstract

An increasing number of regional trade agreements contains provisions that ease access to visas among member countries, which reduces the administrative cost of crossing the border. Combining United Nations data on bilateral stocks of immigrants in the period 1990–2020 with World Bank data on the content of 279 regional trade agreements, this article presents robust evidence of a positive effect of visa provisions in regional trade agreements on bilateral migration: the presence of visa provisions in regional trade agreements increases the bilateral stock of immigrants by 5.8 per cent. This result is robust to an instrumental variable strategy addressing the endogeneity problem. The effect of the inclusion of visa provisions in regional trade agreements is particularly effective among country pairs with different income levels (such as North-South). For this type of country pairs, the presence of visa provisions in regional trade agreements increases the bilateral stock of immigrants by 12.7 per cent. Finally, the article shows that the effectiveness of visa provisions in regional trade agreements reduces with the anti-immigration sentiment of voters in the destination.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Levelu, Anthonin & Mayda, Anna Maria & Orefice, Gianluca, 2023. "Deep trade agreements and international migration: The role of visa provisions," CEPR Press Book Chapters, in: Fernandes, Ana Margarida & Rocha, Nadia & Ruta, Michele (ed.), Beyond Trade: How deep trade agreements shape non-trade outcomes, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 8, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ebchap:p368-08
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    Cited by:

    1. is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Aruna Gounder & Rod Falvey & Gulasekaran Rajaguru, 2025. "What Role do Preferential Trading Arrangements Play in Cross-Border Worker Mobility? Some Asian Evidence," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 26(4), pages 2381-2414, December.
    3. T. Renee Bowen & J. Lawrence Broz & Christina J. Schneider, 2026. "Domestic politics and international organizations," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 1-40, March.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration

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