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Immigration Policies and the Ecuadorian Exodus

Author

Listed:
  • Bertoli, Simone

    (CERDI, Université Clermont Auvergne)

  • Fernández-Huertas Moraga, Jesús

    (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid)

  • Ortega, Francesc

    (Queens College, CUNY)

Abstract

Ecuador experienced an unprecedented wave of international migration since the late 1990s, triggered by a severe economic and financial crisis. This paper gathers individual-level data from Ecuador and the two main destinations of Ecuadorian migrants: the US and Spain. First, we provide a careful description of the main characteristics of migration flows, both in terms of their scale and skill composition. Second, we estimate Mincer regressions for Ecuadorians in the three countries, and attempt to reconcile the features of migration flows with our predictions for earnings by destination. We find that earnings differences can account for the higher share of college graduates among migrants to the US, but fail to explain the larger scale of the flows to Spain. We argue that the puzzle is explained by taking into account that (i) the options to migrate legally to either destination were slim, and (ii) the cost of illegally migrating to Spain was lower than to the US.

Suggested Citation

  • Bertoli, Simone & Fernández-Huertas Moraga, Jesús & Ortega, Francesc, 2010. "Immigration Policies and the Ecuadorian Exodus," IZA Discussion Papers 4737, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4737
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Mr. Fabian Valencia & Mr. Luc Laeven, 2008. "Systemic Banking Crises: A New Database," IMF Working Papers 2008/224, International Monetary Fund.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    immigration policies; sorting; selection; migration;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution

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