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Migration as Trade Facilitation: Assessing the Links between International Trade and Migration

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  • Hatzigeorgiou Andreas

    (Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Sweden)

Abstract

The cost of international trade matters. As traditional barriers to trade continue to diminish in importance, additional ways to lower trade costs become increasingly important to promoting international trade. Migrants can help lower trade costs between their country of birth and their country of residence by providing an information channel that reduces friction and facilitates trade relations. This paper applies a gravity model to a large set of data about developed and developing countries to estimate the extent of the relationship between migrants and trade. The results suggest that both immigrants and emigrants are significantly related to higher trade volumes. Immigrants seem to be especially good at facilitating trade in differentiated goods, for which information costs are particularly important.

Suggested Citation

  • Hatzigeorgiou Andreas, 2010. "Migration as Trade Facilitation: Assessing the Links between International Trade and Migration," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-35, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:bejeap:v:10:y:2010:i:1:n:24
    DOI: 10.2202/1935-1682.2100
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    2. Hatzigeorgiou, Andreas & Lodefalk, Magnus, 2016. "The Brexit Trade Disruption Revisited," Estey Centre Journal of International Law and Trade Policy, Estey Centre for Law and Economics in International Trade, vol. 17(1), pages 1-18.
    3. Andreas Hatzigeorgiou & Patrik Karpaty & Richard Kneller & Magnus Lodefalk, 2024. "Immigrant employment and the contract enforcement costs of offshoring," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 160(3), pages 953-981, August.
    4. BELLINO, Antonella & CELI, Giuseppe, 2016. "The Migration-Trade Nexus in the Presence of Vertical and Horizontal Product Differentiation," CELPE Discussion Papers 137, CELPE - CEnter for Labor and Political Economics, University of Salerno, Italy.
    5. Christopher Parsons, 2011. "Do Migrants Really Foster Trade? The Trade-Migration Nexus, a Panel Approach 1960-2000," Discussion Papers 11/10, University of Nottingham, GEP.
    6. Egger, Peter H. & Ehrlich, Maximilian v. & Nelson, Douglas R., 2020. "The trade effects of skilled versus unskilled migration," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 448-464.
    7. Anna D’Ambrosio & Sandro Montresor, 2022. "The pro-export effect of subnational migration networks: new evidence from Spanish provinces," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 158(1), pages 53-107, February.
    8. Ibrahim Sirkeci & Fatma Zeren, 2018. "Diaspora Marketing Revisited: The nexus of entrepreneurs and consumers," Transnational Marketing Journal, Oxbridge Publishing House, UK, vol. 6(2), pages 139-157, October.
    9. Marcus H. Böhme & Sarah Kups, 2017. "The economic effects of labour immigration in developing countries: A literature review," OECD Development Centre Working Papers 335, OECD Publishing.
    10. STOBER Emmanuel Olusegun, 2014. "CAGE Analysis of China’s Trade Globalization," European Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, Bucharest Economic Academy, issue 01, March.
    11. Christopher R. Parsons & L. Alan Winters, 2014. "International migration, trade and aid: a survey," Chapters, in: Robert E.B. Lucas (ed.), International Handbook on Migration and Economic Development, chapter 4, pages 65-112, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    12. Hatzigeorgiou, Andreas & Lodefalk, Magnus, 2015. "The Role of Foreign Networks for Firm Export of Services," Working Papers 2015:6, Örebro University, School of Business.
    13. Samuel Admassu, 2019. "A comparative analysis of African and Asian migrants’ effect on trade," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 56(6), pages 2079-2092, June.
    14. Misuraca, Roberta & Zimmermann, Klaus, 2024. "Migration and Consumption," MERIT Working Papers 2024-006, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
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    16. Pierre-Louis Vézina, 2012. "How Migrant Networks Facilitate Trade: Evidence from Swiss Exports," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 148(III), pages 449-476, September.

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