A Global General Equilibrium Model of Migration and Poverty
Research Seminars
Academic Areas Economics and Public Policy
Professor Scott Bradford, Associate Professor of Economics, Brigham Young University Provo, UT, United States
November 25, 2016
| 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM | Friday
AC 2 MLT, Level - 2, Hyderabad, India
For ISB Community
Abstract: Most rich nations maintain very tight restrictions on immigration despite widespread opening of trade and international capital flows since World War II. This paper breaks new ground by assessing these barriers’ poverty implications, using a two-region, one-sector, dynastic growth model with a continuum of skills. Like other global studies of migration, I find that rich nation immigration impediments impose huge losses on the global economy. I also find that such barriers increase global poverty by 40% or more. This corroborates the conclusions drawn by others that opening rich nations to freer immigration could reduce poverty more than any other single policy shift.
