Is Migration Good for an Economy? A Survey of the Main Economic Effects

Abstract

This article surveys the main effects of labor migration between two countries. Against the background of high immigration to industrialized countries in recent years, notably to countries in Europe, the focus of the discussion is on the host country of the migrants. In the standard model of labor migration, there are overall benefits when wage differentials trigger labor migration. However, in the presence of externalities and deviations from the basic assumptions, the results can be significantly different.