Immigration, remittances, and business cycles

No 2008-25, FRB Atlanta Working Paper from Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

Abstract: We use data on border enforcement and macroeconomic indicators from the United States and Mexico to estimate a two-country business cycle model of labor migration and remittances. The model matches the cyclical dynamics of labor migration to the United States and documents how remittances to Mexico serve an insurance role to smooth consumption across the border. During expansions in the destination economy, immigration increases with the expected stream of future wage gains, but it is dampened by a sunk migration cost that reflects the intensity of border enforcement. During recessions, established migrants are deterred from returning to their country of origin, which places an additional downward pressure on the wage of native unskilled workers. Thus, migration barriers reduce the ability of the stock of immigrant labor to adjust during the cycle, enhancing the volatility of unskilled wages and remittances. We quantify the welfare implications of various immigration policies for the destination economy. ; Formerly titled: Immigration and the macroeconomy

Keywords: Econometric models; Emigrant remittances; Emigration and immigration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cba, nep-dev, nep-dge, nep-lab, nep-mac and nep-mig
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Immigration, remittances and business cycles (2012)
Working Paper: Immigration, remittances and business cycles (2010)
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