IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/kyklos/v76y2023i4p705-723.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A market for citizenships: Should citizenship be commodified?

Author

Listed:
  • Ingemar Bengtsson

Abstract

Starting from the assumption that citizenship is property that would be more valuable if it were transferable, the paper explores the idea of commodification of citizenship. The paper provides arguments in favor of commodification and recommendations to how the market for citizenships should be designed. A market for citizenships could result in an improved matching between employer and employee when citizens swap citizenship with each other. Successful States could issue new citizenships and thus make it possible for a greater share of the world population to live and work within the countries with the best institutions. The combined effect would be a higher global productivity. Additionally, market prices on citizenships would provide information on institutional quality and thus provide politicians with information on voters' preferences as well as voters with information on the quality of the work of the government. The market value of a tradable citizenship is also found to be a candidate as tax base for a redistributive tax on a global level that could address some of the inherent inequality with birthright citizenships. Those potential benefits aside, several problems with a market for citizenship are also found and discussed, among those the age‐dependent value of citizenships.

Suggested Citation

  • Ingemar Bengtsson, 2023. "A market for citizenships: Should citizenship be commodified?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 76(4), pages 705-723, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:kyklos:v:76:y:2023:i:4:p:705-723
    DOI: 10.1111/kykl.12347
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/kykl.12347
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/kykl.12347?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Charles M. Tiebout, 1956. "A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 64(5), pages 416-416.
    2. Stelios Roupakias & Spiridoula Dimou, 2021. "Immigration, diversity and institutions," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(3), pages 396-416, August.
    3. Michael Clemens, 2011. "Economics and Emigration: Trillion-Dollar Bills on the Sidewalk? - Working Paper 264," Working Papers 264, Center for Global Development.
    4. Andrei Shleifer, 1985. "A Theory of Yardstick Competition," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 16(3), pages 319-327, Autumn.
    5. Lokshin,Michael M. & Ravallion,Martin, 2019. "The Missing Market for Work Permits," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9005, The World Bank.
    6. Reiner Eichenberger & Bruno S. Frey, 2002. "Democratic Governance for a Globalized World," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(2), pages 265-287, May.
    7. North,Douglass C., 1991. "Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521394161, November.
    8. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    9. Armen A. Alchian, 1950. "Uncertainty, Evolution, and Economic Theory," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 58(3), pages 211-211.
    10. Bruno S. Frey, 2021. "Backward‐oriented economics," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(2), pages 187-195, May.
    11. Michael A. Clemens, 2011. "Economics and Emigration: Trillion-Dollar Bills on the Sidewalk?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 25(3), pages 83-106, Summer.
    12. Andreas Bergh & Christian Bjørnskov, 2021. "Does economic freedom boost growth for everyone?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(2), pages 170-186, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Christian Dustmann & Ian P. Preston, 2019. "Free Movement, Open Borders, and the Global Gains from Labor Mobility," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 11(1), pages 783-808, August.
    2. Brian C. Albrecht & Joshua R. Hendrickson & Alexander William Salter, 2022. "Evolution, uncertainty, and the asymptotic efficiency of policy," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 192(1), pages 169-188, July.
    3. Ruxanda Berlinschi & Jan Fidrmuc, 2018. "Comfort and Conformity: A Culture-based Theory of Migration," CESifo Working Paper Series 7294, CESifo.
    4. Klaus Heine, 2013. "Inside the black box: incentive regulation and incentive channeling on energy markets," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 17(1), pages 157-186, February.
    5. Imran Arif & Adam Hoffer & Dean Stansel & Donald Lacombe, 2020. "Economic freedom and migration: A metro area‐level analysis," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 87(1), pages 170-190, July.
    6. Jancewicz, Barbara & Markowski, Stefan, 2019. "Wealth formation by economic agents and their international mobility: towards an eclectic migration decision-support framework," Studia z Polityki Publicznej / Public Policy Studies, Warsaw School of Economics, vol. 6(4), pages 1-28, December.
    7. repec:lic:licosd:40518 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Sheikh, Shahbaz, 2018. "The impact of market competition on the relation between CEO power and firm innovation," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 36-50.
    9. Matthieu Leprince & Sonia Paty & Emmanuelle Reulier, 2005. "Choix d'imposition et interactions spatiales entre collectivités locales. Un test sur les départements français," Recherches économiques de Louvain, De Boeck Université, vol. 71(1), pages 67-93.
    10. Bah, Tijan L. & Batista, Catia & Gubert, Flore & McKenzie, David, 2023. "Can information and alternatives to irregular migration reduce “backway” migration from The Gambia?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    11. Martin Conyon & Annita Florou, 2002. "Top executive dismissal, ownership and corporate performance," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(4), pages 209-225.
    12. Reinhard H. Schmidt, 2015. "Theoriegeschichte, Methodologie, Unternehmenstheorie und Finanzierung im Werk von Dieter Schneider," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 67(4), pages 466-489, December.
    13. Wolfgang Kerber & Oliver Budzinski, "undated". "Towards a Differentiated Analysis of Competition of Competition Laws," German Working Papers in Law and Economics 2004-1-1090, Berkeley Electronic Press.
    14. François MORIN (LEREPS-GRES), 2006. "The Capitalism of financial market and the control of cognitive (In French)," Cahiers du GRES (2002-2009) 2006-05, Groupement de Recherches Economiques et Sociales.
    15. Sheikh, Shahbaz, 2018. "Corporate social responsibility, product market competition, and firm value," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 40-55.
    16. Daniel Albalate & Germà Bel & Ferran A. Mazaira‐Font, 2022. "Geography and regional economic growth: The high cost of deviating from nature," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(2), pages 360-388, March.
    17. Lehn, Kenneth, 2021. "Corporate governance and corporate agility," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    18. Forest L. Reinhardt & Robert N. Stavins & Richard H. K. Vietor, 2008. "Corporate Social Responsibility Through an Economic Lens," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 2(2), pages 219-239, Summer.
    19. Olivieri, Sergio & Ortega, Francesc & Rivadeneira, Ana & Carranza, Eliana, 2020. "Shoring up Economic Refugees: Venezuelan Migrants in the Ecuadorian Labor Market," IZA Discussion Papers 13502, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Aksoy, Yunus & Zoega, Gylfi, 2020. "Fertility changes and replacement migration," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    21. Clemens, Michael A. & Pritchett, Lant, 2019. "The new economic case for migration restrictions: An assessment," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 153-164.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:kyklos:v:76:y:2023:i:4:p:705-723. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0023-5962 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.