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WEALTH CONSTRAINTS, MIGRANT SELECTION, AND INEQUALITY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 September 2017

Joaquín Naval
Joaquín Naval*
Affiliation:
Departament d'Economia, Universitat de Girona
*
Address correspondence to: Joaquín Naval Navarro, Departament d'Economia, Facultat de Ciències Econòmiques i Empresarials, Universitat de Girona, Carrer de la Universitat de Girona, 10, Campus Montilivi, 17003 Girona, Spain; e-mail: joaquin.naval@udg.edu.
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Abstract

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This paper builds a theoretical framework for studying migration and education in developing countries. Migration and education decisions are affected by migrants' wealth constraints. Technology and migration costs determine the pattern of migration through level of education, income, and wealth inequality. The model predicts that in the first stages of technological development, migration rates increase, as does economic inequality over time, for high migration costs. At more advanced stages of development, migration rates and wealth inequality decline. I show that these predictions are in line with the data.

Keywords

InequalityMigrationRemittancesEducation

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Macroeconomic Dynamics , Volume 23 , Issue 2 , March 2019 , pp. 535 - 567
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Footnotes

I would like to thank the associate editor and one anonymous referee, my supervisor Jordi Caballé, and Jesús Fernández-Huertas for their useful comments and guidance. I also wish to thank Frédéric Docquier, David de la Croix, Pau Pujolàs, Joel López Real, and Nuria Rodríguez for their valuable suggestions. This paper has benefited from discussions at seminars in the ENTER Jamboree at Tilburg University, Holland, the Doctoral Workshop in Economics at the Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium, the Summer School in Public Economics: Immigration and Public Policy in the Institut d'Economia de Barcelona, Spain, and the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics Summer Forum, Spain. All errors are my own.

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