Immigration and economic growth in the OECD countries 1986–2006

Ekrame Boubtane (1, 2) , Jean-Christophe Dumont (3) , Christophe Rault (4)

1 CERDI - Centre d'Études et de Recherches sur le Développement International
2 CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne
3 OCDE - Organisation de Coopération et de Développement Economiques = Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
4 LEO - Laboratoire d'Économie d'Orleans [UMR7322]

This paper offers a reappraisal of the impact of migration on economic growth for 22 OECD countries between 1986–2006, and relies on a unique data set we compiled that allows us to distinguish net migration of the native- and foreign-born populations by skill level. Specifically, after introducing migration in an augmented Solow-Swan model, we estimate a dynamic panel model using a system of generalized method of moments (SYS-GMM) to address the risk of endogeneity bias in the migration variables. Two important findings emerge from our analysis. First, there exists a positive impact of migrants’ human capital on GDP per capita, and second, a permanent increase in migration flows has a positive effect on GDP per worker. Moreover, the growth impact of immigration is high even in countries that have non-selective migration policies.

Mots clés: immigration; growth; human capital; generalized methods of moments

Domaines: Economies et finances

Ekrame Boubtane, Jean-Christophe Dumont, Christophe Rault. Immigration and economic growth in the OECD countries 1986–2006. Oxford Economic Papers, 2016, 68 (2), pp.340-360. ⟨10.1093/oep/gpw001⟩. ⟨halshs-01297100⟩