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De Facto Openness to Immigration

Author

Listed:
  • Ljubica Nedelkoska

    (Center for International Development at Harvard University)

  • Diego A. Martin

    (Harvard's Growth Lab)

  • Alexia Lochmann

    (Center for International Development at Harvard University)

  • Dany Bahar

    (Center for International Development at Harvard University)

  • Ricardo Hausmann

    (Harvard's Growth Lab)

  • Muhammed A. Yildirim

    (Center for International Development at Harvard University)

Abstract

Various factors influence why some countries are more open to immigration than others. Policy is only one of them. We design country-specifc measures of openness to immigration that aim to capture de facto levels of openness to immigration, complementing existing de jure measures of immigration, based on enacted immigration laws and policy measures. We estimate these for 148 countries and three years (2000, 2010, and 2020). For a subset of countries, we also distinguish between openness towards tertiary-educated migrants and less than tertiary-educated migrants. Using the measures, we show that most places in the World today are closed to immigration, and a few regions are very open. The World became more open in the first decade of the millennium, an opening mainly driven by the Western World and the Gulf countries. Moreover, we show that other factors equal, countries that increased their openness to immigration, reduced their old-age dependency ratios, and experienced slower real wage growth, arguably a sign of relaxing labor and skill shortages.

Suggested Citation

  • Ljubica Nedelkoska & Diego A. Martin & Alexia Lochmann & Dany Bahar & Ricardo Hausmann & Muhammed A. Yildirim, 2025. "De Facto Openness to Immigration," Growth Lab Working Papers 245, Harvard's Growth Lab.
  • Handle: RePEc:glh:wpfacu:245
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    File URL: https://growthlab.hks.harvard.edu/sites/projects.iq.harvard.edu/files/2025-02-glwp-245-openness-to-immigration.pdf
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Openness to immigration; measurement; aging; wages;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination

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