Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/106535 
Year of Publication: 
2014
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 8592
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
The most basic economic theory suggests that rising incomes in developing countries will deter emigration from those countries, an idea that captivates policymakers in international aid and trade diplomacy. A lengthy literature and recent data suggest something quite different: that over the course of a "mobility transition", emigration generally rises with economic development until countries reach upper-middle income, and only thereafter falls. This note quantifies the shape of the mobility transition in every decade since 1960. It then briefly surveys 45 years of research, which has yielded six classes of theory to explain the mobility transition and numerous tests of its existence and characteristics in both macro- and micro-level data. The note concludes by suggesting five questions that require further study.
Subjects: 
emigration
migration
mobility
development
growth
transition
hump
lifecycle
inequality
poverty
aid
demand
pressure
JEL: 
F22
J61
O15
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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