IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/wbrwps/11017.html

Migrants as Social Protection ? Simulations of a Market for Work Permits

Author

Listed:
  • Quy-Toan Do
  • Michael M. Lokshin
  • Ravallion,Martin

Abstract

Workers have the right to take up any job offer in their country of citizenship but not to rent out that right. This paper shows that relaxing this restriction using a two-sided competitive market in work permits can provide a basic income guarantee for workers in migration-destination countries, financed by selling temporary work permits to migrant workers. Regulating the market by imposing a tax on work permits narrows the set of beneficiaries, the income of which can further be complemented with the revenues from such tax. Substantial gains in the destination countries’ gross domestic product can be expected, alongside the first-order gains to migrant workers who would not otherwise have access to the labor markets in destination countries. The paper provides a quantitative illustration by simulating a fictitious market for work permits between Mexico and the United States.

Suggested Citation

  • Quy-Toan Do & Michael M. Lokshin & Ravallion,Martin, 2025. "Migrants as Social Protection ? Simulations of a Market for Work Permits," Policy Research Working Paper Series 11017, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:11017
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099931001072522042/pdf/IDU-ab8a5b41-230e-41c3-b7ad-bfdb52551df9.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Emmanuelle Auriol & Alice Mesnard, 2016. "Sale of Visas: a Smuggler's Final Song?," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 83(332), pages 646-678, October.
    2. Eric WEINSTEIN, 2002. "Migration for the benefit of all: Towards a new paradigm for economic immigration," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 141(3), pages 225-252, September.
    3. 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.
    4. Clemens, Michael A. & Mendola, Mariapia, 2024. "Migration from developing countries: Selection, income elasticity, and Simpson’s paradox," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    5. David Card, 1990. "The Impact of the Mariel Boatlift on the Miami Labor Market," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 43(2), pages 245-257, January.
    6. 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.
    7. Binswanger, Johannes & Schunk, Daniel, 2012. "What is an adequate standard of living during Retirement?," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(2), pages 203-222, April.
    8. Mohammad M Fazel-Zarandi & Jonathan S Feinstein & Edward H Kaplan, 2018. "The number of undocumented immigrants in the United States: Estimates based on demographic modeling with data from 1990 to 2016," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(9), pages 1-11, September.
    9. Randy Capps & Julia Gelatt & Jennifer Van Hook & Michael Fix, 2018. "Commentary on “The number of undocumented immigrants in the United States: Estimates based on demographic modeling with data from 1990-2016”," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(9), pages 1-10, September.
    10. Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano & Giovanni Peri, 2021. "Rethinking The Effect Of Immigration On Wages," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Firms and Workers in a Globalized World Larger Markets, Tougher Competition, chapter 9, pages 245-290, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    11. Christoph Albert & Joan Monras, 2022. "Immigration and Spatial Equilibrium: The Role of Expenditures in the Country of Origin," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(11), pages 3763-3802, November.
    12. Michael Lokshin & Martin Ravallion, 2022. "A market for work permits," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 37(111), pages 471-499.
    13. David Argente & Chang-Tai Hsieh & Munseob Lee, 2023. "Measuring the Cost of Living in Mexico and the United States," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 15(3), pages 43-63, July.
    14. Arindrajit Dube, 2019. "Minimum Wages and the Distribution of Family Incomes," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(4), pages 268-304, October.
    15. Christian Dustmann & Tommaso Frattini & Ian P. Preston, 2013. "The Effect of Immigration along the Distribution of Wages," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 80(1), pages 145-173.
    16. David Neumark & Mark Schweitzer & William Wascher, 2005. "The Effects of Minimum Wages on the Distribution of Family Incomes: A Nonparametric Analysis," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 40(4), pages 867-894.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Michal Burzynski & Giovanni Peri, 2024. "Natives Sorting and the Impact of Immigration on European Labor Markets," LISER Working Paper Series 2024-09, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER).
    2. Jens Ruhose, 2015. "Microeconometric Analyses on Economic Consequences of Selective Migration," ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 61, July.
    3. Auriol, Emmanuelle & Mesnard, Alice & Perrault, Tiffanie, 2023. "Temporary foreign work permits: Honing the tools to defeat human smuggling," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    4. Lant Pritchett, 2024. "“Rely (only) on the rigorous evidence” is bad advice," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(4), pages 2034-2058, November.
    5. Berbée, Paul & Brücker, Herbert & Garloff, Alfred & Sommerfeld, Katrin, 2022. "The labor demand effects of refugee immigration: Evidence from a natural experiment," ZEW Discussion Papers 22-069, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    6. Lewis, Ethan & Peri, Giovanni, 2015. "Immigration and the Economy of Cities and Regions," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 625-685, Elsevier.
    7. Howley, P.; & Moro, M.; & Waqas, M.; & Delaney, L.; & Heron, T.;, 2018. "Immigration and self-reported well-being in the UK," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 18/12, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    8. Joan Llull, 2018. "The Effect of Immigration on Wages: Exploiting Exogenous Variation at the National Level," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 53(3), pages 608-662.
    9. Lemos, Sara, 2025. "Peekaboo! Uncovering the Impact of the Eastern European Immigration Shock on Wages Employment and Unemployment in the UK," IZA Discussion Papers 18000, IZA Network @ LISER.
    10. repec:wbk:wbrwps:10250 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Anthony Edo & Lionel Ragot & Hillel Rapoport & Sulin Sardoschau & Andreas Steinmayr, 2018. "The Effects of Immigration in Developed Countries: Insights from Recent Economic Research," CEPII Policy Brief 2018-22, CEPII research center.
    12. Alessia Lo Turco & Daniela Maggioni & Federico Trionfetti, 2024. "Immigration and the skill premium," Working Papers hal-04556685, HAL.
    13. Moreno-Galbis, Eva & Tritah, Ahmed, 2016. "The effects of immigration in frictional labor markets: Theory and empirical evidence from EU countries," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 76-98.
    14. Christian Gunadi, 2021. "The Labour Market Effects of Venezuelan Refugee Crisis in the United States," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 83(6), pages 1311-1340, December.
    15. Aksu, Ege & Erzan, Refik & Kırdar, Murat Güray, 2022. "The impact of mass migration of Syrians on the Turkish labor market," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    16. Ortega, Javier & Verdugo, Gregory, 2014. "The impact of immigration on the French labor market: Why so different?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 14-27.
    17. Sara de la Rica & Albretch Glitz & Francesc Ortega, 2013. "Immigration in Europe: Trends, Policies and Empirical Evidence," Working Papers 2013-16, FEDEA.
    18. Hausmann, Ricardo & Nedelkoska, Ljubica, 2018. "Welcome home in a crisis: Effects of return migration on the non-migrants' wages and employment," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 101-132.
    19. Lokshin,Michael M. & Ravallion,Martin, 2021. "Would Mexican Migrants be Willing to Guarantee Americans a Basic Income ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9708, The World Bank.
    20. Brücker, Herbert & Hauptmann, Andreas & Jahn, Elke J. & Upward, Richard, 2014. "Migration and imperfect labor markets: Theory and cross-country evidence from Denmark, Germany and the UK," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 205-225.
    21. Fernández-Huertas Moraga, Jesús & Rapoport, Hillel, 2014. "Tradable immigration quotas," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 94-108.

    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:wbk:wbrwps:11017. 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: Roula I. Yazigi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dvewbus.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.