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Emigration and democracy

Author

Listed:
  • Docquier, Frederic
  • Lodigiani, Elisabetta
  • Rapoport, Hillel
  • Schiff, Maurice

Abstract

Migration is an important yet neglected determinant of institutions. This paper documents the channels through which emigration affects home country institutions and considers dynamic-panel regressions for a large sample of developing countries. The authors find that emigration and human capital both increase democracy and economic freedom. This implies that unskilled (skilled) emigration has a positive (ambiguous) impact on institutional quality. Simulations show an impact of skilled emigration that is generally positive, significant for a few countries and for many countries once incentive effects of emigration on human capital formation are accounted for.

Suggested Citation

  • Docquier, Frederic & Lodigiani, Elisabetta & Rapoport, Hillel & Schiff, Maurice, 2011. "Emigration and democracy," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5557, The World Bank.
  • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5557
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Population Policies; Economic Theory&Research; International Migration; Human Migrations&Resettlements; Voluntary and Involuntary Resettlement;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration

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