The Economics of Migration

Course overview

Migration reshapes labor markets in countries of origin and destination. This course examines why people migrate, who moves where, and how mobility affects workers, firms, and local economies. It is designed both for PhD students and practitioners who are already developing a migration research or policy agenda and for those who want to build a strong foundation in the field.

The first part focuses on international migration decisions: how people weigh opportunities across destinations, how migration costs and networks shape those choices, and why migrants differ in their skills and expected outcomes. Starting with the Roy model and its application to migration, we study migrant self-selection, random utility and gravity models, and the debate over whether skilled migration leads to “brain drain” or “brain gain.” We also consider how policies and incentives—including border enforcement and taxation—can influence migration decisions.

The course then turns to internal migration and the forces that shape where people live and work within a country. We examine static and dynamic models of location choice, with attention to migration costs, information, and how mobility interacts with wages and local labor markets.

The next part studies immigration’s effects on labor markets. We compare empirical approaches, including natural experiments, spatial and skill-cell analyses, and production-function models, and discuss the challenges of identifying causal effects. We also examine how native workers and earlier immigrants adjust, and the consequences of highly skilled immigration.

A final part focuses on immigrant assimilation: how immigrants’ labor market outcomes change over time and what the evidence can tell us about their economic integration.

Throughout, the course connects influential research questions to the models and empirical strategies used to study them. Participants can use it to deepen an existing agenda, evaluate evidence relevant to policy, or quickly get up to speed on the main debates and tools in migration economics.