Unilateral Facilitation Does Not Raise International Labor Migration from the Philippines

David McKenzie, Emily Beam and Dean Yang

No 1319, RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series from Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM)

Abstract: Significant income gains from migrating from poorer to richer countries have motivated unilateral (source-country) policies facilitating labor emigration. However, their effectiveness is unknown. We conducted a large-scale randomized experiment in the Philippines testing the impact of unilaterally facilitating international labor migration. Our most intensive treatment doubled the rate of job offers but had no identifiable effect on international labor migration. Even the highest overseas job-search rate we induced (22%) falls far short of the share initially expressing interest in migrating (34%). We conclude that unilateral migration facilitation will at most induce a trickle, not a flood, of additional emigration.

Keywords: International migration; passport costs; barriers to migration; unilateral migration policy; imperfect information; job-matching; field experiment; Philippines (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 F22 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev, nep-exp, nep-mig and nep-sea
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (26)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Unilateral Facilitation Does Not Raise International Labor Migration from the Philippines (2016)
Working Paper: Unilateral Facilitation Does Not Raise International Labor Migration from the Philippines (2014)
Working Paper: Unilateral Facilitation Does Not Raise International Labor Migration from the Philippines (2013)
Working Paper: Unilateral facilitation does not raise international labor migration from the Philippines (2013)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:crm:wpaper:1319

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