Click here to read Migrants Count: Five Steps Toward Better Migration Data
Background and Purpose
We know quite a lot about how the various dimensions of richer advanced countries' policies affect poorer developing countries, either directly or indirectly. We know, for example, that if rich countries fully opened their markets to products from poor countries, the value in increased income for those poor countries would be almost double that of development assistance. We know that rich country foreign direct investment flows provide jobs, help create local industries, and transfer technologies. But, what about the movement of people? How do rich country immigration policies affect developing countries? Do they impact only those who move? Or, do they also affect the sending countries? The sad and surprising answer is that we don't know, and, so long as we don't know, rich countries cannot claim to have the information they need to make sensible development policies.
CGD is committed to understanding how the policies of rich countries affect the welfare and development prospects of poorer countries. Our work and the work of others suggests that rich countries' immigration policies have huge impacts on the lives of immigrants who move from developing to rich countries. We also know that immigration affects the lives of those left behind, with the massive increases in remittances in the past two decades the most visible manifestation of this. But there are other, less visible benefits of immigration that may be far more important to the welfare of sending countries than remittances. But, while we can cite anecdotes in support of these effects, we know almost nothing about their magnitudes. And without that, we cannot know how important immigration policy is as development policy.
To push the issue of better migration statistics, CGD convened the Migration Data for Development Commission to explore one key question: As the international migration debate heats up, what do policy makers need to know about the impact of migration on sending countries if they care about development? (Read the Migration Data Commission background note.) As an obvious corollary to this question the group will as well explore the current state of migration statistics, and what needs to be done to give researchers and policy makers the empirical base they need to assess migration's impact on sending countries. A forthcoming report from the commission will summarize its main conclusions and recommendations.
The group's policy impact will be measured by whether or not the OECD and/or other national and international statistical agencies take initial steps to improve the quality of international migration data, steps that would ideally include instituting routine collection of information on entries and exits that would permit "adding up" of the flows of people across countries (as is the case for trade in goods and services), including standardized definitions of "temporary" versus "permanent" migrants, as well as of major skill and labor categories. Basic measures of this type are an essential starting point for rigorous empirical research on the development effects of migration.
Leadership and Composition
The Migration Data for Development Commission is co-chaired by
- Professor Lawrence Summers, former chief economist at the World Bank and president of Harvard University
- Patricia Santo-Tomas, chair of the Development Bank of the Philippines
Commissioners include 14 other distinguished experts from a variety of international and academic organizations conducting migration research:
- Nancy Birdsall, Center for Global Development
- Richard Bilsborrow, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Michael Clemens, Center for Global Development
- Gero Carletto, World Bank
- Dennis de Tray, Center for Global Development
- Enrico Giovannini, OECD
- Michel Glaude, Eurostat
- Béla Hovy, United Nations
- Frank Laczko, International Organization for Migration
- Douglas Massey, Princeton University
- David McKenzie, World Bank
- Milena Novy-Marx, MacArthur Foundation
- Michel Poulain, Université Catholique de Louvain
- Hania Zlotnik, United Nations
Members serve in a personal capacity and on a voluntary basis.
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Selected Works
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This study uses a unique natural experiment to test a simple model of international differences in workers’ wages and productivity. Its findings have implications for open questions in labor, growth, international, and development economics.
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Abstract: A large literature examines the occupational mobility of immigrants and the potential underuse of their human capital in destination countries. Immigrants typically experience a U-shape pattern of occupational change, from their last job in the origin country to their first and then...
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In this TED Talk-style presentation, CGD research fellow Michael Clemens exhibits his new research on the benefits of global migration.
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The emigration of skilled workers from developing countries is often referred to as brain drain and considered something that should be limited. In this paper, resident fellow Michael Clemens takes the term to task and shows instead that a more open skill flow—a more accurate and neutral...
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This video contains highlights from a recent event hosted at CGD, Beyond the Fence, where experts presented groundbreaking insights into the links between migration, remittances and prosperity.
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CGD visiting fellow John Gibson and David McKenzie investigate the economic determinants behind decisions to migrate and decisions to return home. Using Pacific island countries as case studies, they find that expected gains in income may not be as influential as other expectations and preferences.
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In this CGD report, the Commission on International Migration Data for Development Research and Policy presents their five recommendations to remedy the lack of good data on migration and its effects on development. The recommendations are politically and technically practical and would allow...
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The World Bank's David McKenzie presents research on "brain drain" with remarks from CGD research fellow Michael Clemens.
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The New Ideas in Development After the Financial Crisis Conference, sponsored by CGD and the Bernard L. Schwartz Forum on Constructive Capitalism, examined the implications of the global financial crisis on existing development strategies.
In this audio recording, CGD research fellow Michael...
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Director of the Center for Public Leadership at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, editor-at-large at U.S. News & World Report, and a senior political analyst for CNN, David Gergen joined CGD president Nancy Birdsall, and CGD senior fellows who authored essays in our...
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This controversial book argues that irresistible demographic forces for greater international labor mobility are being checked by immovable anti-immigration ideas of rich-country citizens. Pritchett proposes breaking the gridlock through policies that support development while also being...
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Director of the Center for Public Leadership at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, editor-at-large at U.S. News & World Report, and a senior political analyst for CNN, David Gergen joined CGD president Nancy Birdsall, and CGD senior fellows who authored essays in our...
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A CGD best-seller, Give Us Your Best and Brightest has been praised in Foreign Affairs as "a judicious combination of facts, theory, and informed conjecture on a growing but complex phenomenon about which too little is known." Best and Brightest addresses the migration of well-educated workers from...
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In this CGD report, the Commission on International Migration Data for Development Research and Policy presents their five recommendations to remedy the lack of good data on migration and its effects on development. The recommendations are politically and technically practical and would allow...
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Are your wages determined by what you know, or where you are? This paper estimates how the wages of workers in 42 developing countries would change if the same people could work in the United States. It uses a rich new database on over two million workers around the world. A worker from the...
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Data on the average income of a resident of Ecuador is easy to find. But until now there has been no data on the average income of a person born in Ecuador, regardless of where she or he lives. In this paper, research fellow Michael Clemens and non-resident fellow Lant Pritchett introduce a new...
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Human capital flows from poor countries to rich countries are large and growing. A leading cause is the increasing skill-focus of immigration policy in a number of leading industrialized countries—a trend that is likely to intensify as rich countries age and competitive pressures build in...
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The emigration of skilled workers from developing countries is often referred to as brain drain and considered something that should be limited. In this paper, resident fellow Michael Clemens takes the term to task and shows instead that a more open skill flow—a more accurate and neutral...
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This study uses a unique natural experiment to test a simple model of international differences in workers’ wages and productivity. Its findings have implications for open questions in labor, growth, international, and development economics.
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Large numbers of African nurses and doctors are emigrating to the U.S., U.K., Australia and other rich countries. These movements strain local health systems and deprive sick people of urgently needed care. Right? Think again. What if wages and working conditions in city slums and rural villages...
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Nancy Birdsall, President An internationally recognized expert on the impact of rich-country policies on poor people in developing countries, Nancy Birdsall is the author, co-author, or editor of more than a dozen books and over 100 articles in scholarly journals and monographs, published in English and Spanish. She is the...
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Michael Clemens, Senior Fellow Michael Clemens leads CGD's Migration and Development initiative. His research focuses on the effects of international migration on people from and in developing countries. He also serves as CGD’s research manager, directing the Center’s engagement with the academic research community.
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Devesh Kapur, Non-Resident Fellow Devesh Kapur is the Director of the Centre for Advanced Study of India, he holds the Madan Lal Sobti Professorship for the Study of Contemporary India, and he is an associate professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania. His research examines local-global linkages in political...
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Michael Kremer, Non-Resident Fellow Michael Kremer is the Gates Professor of Developing Societies in the department of economics at Harvard University, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and non-resident fellow at the Center for Global Development. Kremer’s recent research examines education and health in developing...
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Lant Pritchett, Non-Resident Fellow Lant Pritchett is professor of the practice of international development and Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. Before returning the Kennedy School, he was lead socio-economist in the social development group of the South Asia region of the World Bank, resident in Delhi, 2004–2007.
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Migrants Count: Five Steps Toward Better Migration Data
- May 25, 2009
In this CGD report, the Commission on International Migration Data for Development Research and Policy presents their five recommendations to remedy the lack of good data on migration and its effects on development. The recommendations are politically and technically practical and would allow...
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Skilled Emigration and Skill Creation: A quasi-experiment - Working Paper 152
- Sep 30, 2008
Does the emigration of highly educated people necessarily deplete skills in developing countries through a brain drain? Maybe not. In Fiji, according to a new CGD working paper by Satish Chand and CGD research fellow Michael Clemens, the sudden and massive departure of people with higher education...
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Let Their People Come: Breaking the Gridlock on Global Labor Mobility
- Sep 12, 2006
This controversial book argues that irresistible demographic forces for greater international labor mobility are being checked by immovable anti-immigration ideas of rich-country citizens. Pritchett proposes breaking the gridlock through policies that support development while also being...
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New data on African health professionals abroad - Working Paper 95
- Aug 11, 2006
The migration of doctors and nurses from Africa to rich countries has raised fears of an African medical brain drain. Research on the issue has been hampered by lack of data. How many doctors and nurses have left Africa? Which countries did they leave? Where have they settled? To answer these...
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The Global Migration of Talent: What Does it Mean for Developing Countries?
- Oct 13, 2005
Human capital flows from poor countries to rich countries are large and growing. A leading cause is the increasing skill-focus of immigration policy in a number of leading industrialized countries—a trend that is likely to intensify as rich countries age and competitive pressures build in...
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Mobilizing Talent for Global Development
- Apr 2, 2008
The economic potential of globalization may ultimately depend on the international mobility of highly talented individuals who transfer and circulate knowledge and skills. Examples are seen throughout the globe of these skilled individuals utilizing ideas, capital and innovation to contribute to...
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The International Migration of Women: Future Directions for Research and Policy
- Dec 18, 2007
The current share of women in the world's international migrant population is close to one half. Despite the great number of female migrants, there has until recently been a striking lack of gender analysis in the economic literature on international migration and development. A book just published...
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Let Their People Come: Breaking the Gridlock on Global Labor Mobility
- Sep 15, 2006
In Let Their People Come, Pritchett argues that irresistible demographic forces leading to greater international labor mobility are being checked by immovable anti-immigration ideas of citizens of rich countries. He proposes breaking the deadlock through policies that support development while also...
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