UNU-MERIT Working Papers Series
Migration as a response to differences in human rights and income: A bilateral panel study
Pui-hang Wong & Mehmet Guney Celbis #2015-053This study addresses the question of why migration persists despite
welfare improvements in migrant-sending countries. We show that migrants
proceed to a location where the difference in freedom and income
relative to their original location is large. Moreover, it is not only
the origin-destination differences that play a role, but also the
differences of these locations with the rest of the world. We reach our
results by controlling for this dependency and possible sample selection
biases in the context of origin-destination models.
Key words: International migration, human rights, freedom, income
differences, bilateral flow
JEL Classification: F22, F50, F68, O15, P16
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