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Why People Immigrate: The Evidence

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The Economics of Immigration

Abstract

In this chapter, we survey the empirical evidence on the determinants of international migration. The empirical literature on determinants is very small, partially due to lack of appropriate data for many countries. Existing studies focus mostly on U.S., Canadian and European immigration, and this literature provides support for the human capital investment view of immigration. However, the evidence also indicates that there are many other important social and political determinants of immigration.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Clark, Hatton, and Williamson (2007), p. 359.

  2. 2.

    See, for example, “California in the Rearview Mirror,” Newsweek, July 19, 1993, pp. 24–25.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, St. Cloud State University, 720 Fourth Avenue South, St. Cloud, MN, 56301, USA

    Örn B. Bodvarsson

  2. Department of Economics, University of Nebraska, 880489, Lincoln, NE, 68588-0489, USA

    Hendrik Van den Berg

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  1. Örn B. Bodvarsson
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  2. Hendrik Van den Berg
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Correspondence to Örn B. Bodvarsson .

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Bodvarsson, Ö.B., Van den Berg, H. (2009). Why People Immigrate: The Evidence. In: The Economics of Immigration. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-77796-0_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-77796-0_3

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