Title
Freedom and international migration
Publication Date
1-1-2010
Publication Name
Southern Economic Journal
Volume
77
Issue
1
First Page
49
Last Page
62
Source Full Text URL
https://doi.org/10.4284/sej.2010.77.1.49
Document Type
Article
DOI
10.4284/sej.2010.77.1.49
Abstract
Economic and political freedoms are regressed on a bilateral cross section of international migrant stocks using ordinary least squares and Tobit techniques. A positive relationship between these variables is found. Economic freedom is statistically significant even when controlling for income per capita and political freedom. In addition, the impact of these freedoms on migration flows into OECD countries between 2001 and 2006 using fixed effects estimations is analyzed. The panel data analysis mostly corroborates the cross-sectional analysis. The notable exception is that political freedom appears to have had a negative impact on migration flows during this period.