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A Labor Mobility Agenda for Development

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  • Michael Clemens
Abstract
Rich countries have made efforts for half a century to help people in poor countries catch up to rich-country standards of living. Those efforts have included giving foreign aid, encouraging overseas investment, dismantling trade barriers, and spreading ideas and institutions. That is, their international development policy has been to encourage the globalization of almost all factors of production—except labor. So far, this policy has failed to cause the living standards of most people in most developing countries to converge with living standards in rich countries. But the globalization of labor—greater mobility for workers across borders—quickly and massively raises migrants’ living standards toward those of rich countries. This paper argues that every rich country should consider its immigration policy to be part of its international development policy, and vice versa. A development policy that includes migration will be more effective; an immigration policy that includes development will better serve rich countries’ ideals and interests. The paper also gives a non-technical review of new research on several common objections to unifying development policy and migration policy. One concrete way forward is for rich countries to greatly open up legal pathways for temporary labor movement.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Clemens, 2010. "A Labor Mobility Agenda for Development," Working Papers 201, Center for Global Development.
    • Handle: RePEc:cgd:wpaper:201
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    File URL: http://www.cgdev.org/content/publications/detail/1423717
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Chris Manning & Devanto S. Pratomo, 2013. "Do migrants get stuck in the informal sector? Findings from a household survey in four Indonesian cities," Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(2), pages 167-192, August.
    2. Joakim Ruist & Arne Bigsten, 2013. "Wage Effects of Labour Migration with International Capital Mobility," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(1), pages 31-47, January.
    3. Jose Antonio Alonso, 2015. "Managing Labour Mobility: A Missing Pillar of Global Governance," CDP Background Papers 026, United Nations, Department of Economics and Social Affairs.
    4. Amar Iqbal Anwar & Mazhar Mughal, 2012. "Remittances, inequality and poverty in Pakistan: macro and microeconomic Evidence [Centre d'Analyse Théorique et de Traitement des données économiques REMITTANCES, INEQUALITY AND POVERTY IN PAKISTA," Working Papers hal-01885153, HAL.
    5. Amar Iqbal Anwar & Mazhar Mughal, 2012. "Remittances, inequality and poverty in Pakistan: macro and microeconomic Evidence [Centre d'Analyse Théorique et de Traitement des données économiques REMITTANCES, INEQUALITY AND POVERTY IN PAKISTA," Working papers of CATT hal-01885153, HAL.
    6. Fanti, Lucrezia & Pereira, Marcelo C. & Virgillito, Maria Enrica, 2023. "The North-South divide: Sources of divergence, policies for convergence," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 405-429.
    7. Alan de Brauw & Valerie Mueller & Tassew Woldehanna, 2018. "Does Internal Migration Improve Overall Well-Being in Ethiopia?," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 27(3), pages 347-365.
    8. Marta Schoch, 2020. "Essays on political economy, inequality and development," Economics PhD Theses 0120, Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School.
    9. Sajitha Beevi Karayil, 2021. "Movement of natural persons and the sieve of immigration policy: Evidence from United States," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 157(4), pages 853-879, November.
    10. Ratha, Dilip & Mohapatra, Sanket & Scheja, Elina, 2011. "Impact of migration on economic and social development : a review of evidence and emerging issues," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5558, The World Bank.

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    Keywords

    international development; immigration policy; labor; migration;
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