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Legal and illegal immigrants: an analysis of optimal saving behavior

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  • Alexandra Vinogradova

Abstract

Savings of guest workers as well as of undocumented migrants represent important inflows of foreign exchange for some developing countries. This paper compares the saving behavior of these two types of migrants, assuming that the former are authorized to work abroad for a specific period of time, while the latter can stay until apprehended and deported by the immigration authorities. Due to the risk of deportation, the saving rate of an illegal immigrant is found to be initially above that of a documented migrant. This precautionary saving phenomenon is, however, short-lived. A key finding of the paper is that the total repatriated assets of an illegal migrant are always lower than those of a documented worker, provided that their duration of stay abroad is identical. This is because the undocumented migrant’s saving rate falls over time as her expected lifetime earnings are adjusted upwards every day that she avoids apprehension. Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Alexandra Vinogradova, 2014. "Legal and illegal immigrants: an analysis of optimal saving behavior," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 27(1), pages 201-224, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jopoec:v:27:y:2014:i:1:p:201-224
    DOI: 10.1007/s00148-013-0481-9
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    Cited by:

    1. Tan, Jing & Xu, Hao & Yu, Jingwen, 2022. "The effect of homeownership on migrant household savings: Evidence from the removal of home purchase restrictions in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    2. Slobodan Djajić, 2014. "Temporary Migration and the Flow of Savings to the Source Country," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(1), pages 162-176, February.
    3. Djajić, Slobodan & Vinogradova, Alexandra, 2014. "Liquidity-constrained migrants," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 210-224.
    4. Slobodan Djajić & Michael S. Michael, 2014. "Controlling Illegal Immigration: On the Scope for Cooperation with a Transit Country," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(4), pages 808-824, September.
    5. Slobodan Djajić, 2017. "Transit migration," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(5), pages 1017-1045, November.
    6. Slobodan Djajić & Alexandra Vinogradova, 2019. "Immigration Policies and the Choice between Documented and Undocumented Migration," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 86(341), pages 201-228, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Illegal immigration; Uncertainty; Saving behavior; D81; F22; J61;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

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