Topics:
Expertise
Migration and development, economic growth, aid effectiveness, economic history
Bio
Michael Clemens is co-director of migration, displacement, and humanitarian policy and a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, where he studies the economic effects and causes of migration around the world. He has published on migration, development, economic history, and impact evaluation, in peer-reviewed academic journals including the American Economic Review, and his research has been awarded the Royal Economic Society Prize. He also serves as a Research Fellow at the IZA Institute of Labor Economics in Bonn, Germany, an Associate Editor of the Journal of Population Economics and World Development. He is the author of the book The Walls of Nations, forthcoming from Columbia University Press. Previously, Clemens has been an Affiliated Associate Professor of Public Policy at Georgetown University, a visiting scholar at New York University, and a consultant for the World Bank, Bain & Co., the Environmental Defense Fund, and the United Nations Development Program. He has lived and worked in Colombia, Brazil, and Turkey. He received his PhD from the Department of Economics at Harvard University, specializing in economic development, public finance, and economic history.
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More From Michael Clemens
August 10, 2016
Blog Post
I was delighted to see that the eminent development economist Paul Romer, a non-resident fellow of CGD, will become Chief Economist of the World Bank, and I'll be interested to see how the world’s leading development institution is inspired by Paul’s imagination.
August 2, 2016
Blog Post
A yearlong project of the Ford Foundation has asked a simple question—“What is inequality?”—to CGD’s Michael Clemens along with a group including Nobel laureate Joe Stiglitz, Gloria Steinem, Sir Richard Branson, and Sir Elton John. Many spoke about rising domestic inequality. But to Clemens, #InequalityIs global. And innovative policy can tap the power of migration to reduce inequality while minimizing its risks.
July 27, 2016
Blog Post
More people are now displaced outside their home than at any other time since UNHCR records began; these mass movements will only continue as conflict, disaster, extreme poverty, and other hardships force people to seek safety and opportunity. Unfortunately, most recent policy solutions have been ad hoc and based in fear. Can we do better? CGD and co-host ODI recently convened a panel of experts to discuss the economics and politics of this crucial question.
July 11, 2016
Event
The world was caught off-guard by recent mass movements of refugees and migrants from the Middle East and Africa. But this is not one brief storm to be weathered and forgotten. These mass movements will only continue in coming years as conflict, disasters, extreme poverty, and other hardships displace people from their homes. Today the recent rise in 'survival migration' is commonly cited to justify political upheaval and isolationism in both Europe and the United States.
July 8, 2016
Publication
Large international differences in the price of labor can be sustained by differences between workers, or by natural and policy barriers to worker mobility. We use migrant selection theory and evidence to place lower bounds on the ad valorem equivalent of labor mobility barriers to the United States. Natural and policy barriers may each create annual global losses of trillions of dollars.
April 11, 2013
Publication
The US economy needs low-skill workers now more than ever, and that requires a legal channel for the large-scale, employment-based entry of low-skill workers. The alternative is what the country has now: a giant black market in unauthorized labor that hinders job creation and harms border security. A legal time-bound labor-access program could benefit the American middle class and low-skill workers, improve US border security, and create opportunities for foreign workers.
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April 11, 2013
Publication
The US economy needs low-skill workers now more than ever, and that requires a legal channel for the large-scale, employment-based entry of low-skill workers. The alternative is what the country has now: a giant black market in unauthorized labor that hinders job creation and harms border security. A legal time-bound labor-access program could benefit the American middle class and low-skill workers, improve US border security, and create opportunities for foreign workers.
January 23, 2017
Publication
We report a small-sample, preliminary evaluation of the economic impact of temporary overseas work by Haitian agricultural workers. We find that the effects of matching new seasonal agricultural jobs in the US with Haitian workers differs markedly from the effects of more traditional forms of assistance to Haiti, in three ways: The economic benefits are shared roughly equally between Haiti and the United States; these benefits are very large, including raising the value of Haitian workers’ labor by a multiple of fifteen; and the portion of the benefits accruing to Haiti is uncommonly well-targeted for the direct benefit of poor Haitian households.
September 12, 2008
Event
This article presents a new perspective on the impact of migration and remittances on time allocation in migrant-sending families. It is a common finding that labor market participation is lower in migrant households. We look at the channels behind this stylized fact, by investigating if migration affects three main reasons for inactivity: (i) leisure consumption (ii) home production and (iii) higher education. Based on household survey data from Moldova, our results challenge the assertion that those who stay behind consume more leisure. Instead, living in a migrant household implies higher probabilities of intra-household labor substitution and home production. For adolescents in migrant families, we also find a substantially higher likelihood of university enrolment. Altogether, the higher levels of inactivity among migrant families can be attributed to education and housework activities, with little evidence for disincentive effects.
July 16, 2014
Blog Post
Deadly violence in US neighbors has once again grabbed Americans’ attention. An unprecedented wave of Central American children has been arriving at the Southwest US border this year, often fleeing gang violence linked to the narcotics trade. Many of them come from Honduras, an epicenter of the Drug War with the world’s highest homicide rate.
July 3, 2012
Article
Like you, I know that there are many ways to make a difference in the world. I believe that improving the policies and practices of the rich, powerful, and influential is one of the most powerful and effective ways to support poor people in their efforts to improve their lives.
At the Center for Global Development our research feeds directly into practical policy proposals; we then work with thought leaders and decision makers to push these ideas into action. Our work is making a difference in the lives of small-holder farmers in Africa and unemployed workers in Haiti—and a CGD proposal for a new form of sanctions could help to end the violence in Syria, to name just three recent examples.
I invite you to join the CGD Society with a gift of $150 or more to help us continue to punch above our weight, pushing for policy changes that better the lives of the world's poor. By joining today with a check, wire transfer, or secure credit card transaction online, your investment in our work will be doubled thanks to a generous challenge grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
Let me tell you about three ways that we will put your gift to work.
Our work on pull funding—market-like incentives for the delivery of products and services needed by poor people—paid off last month with an announcement at the G-20 Summit in Mexico that five countries and the Gates Foundation will provide $100 million for agricultural technology innovations to benefit farmers in Africa. CGD is now urging that the approach be applied to big technology challenges, such as a new form of fertilizer.
After a two-year research and policy engagement effort through our Migration as a Tool for Disaster Recovery Initiative this year the the US government added Haiti to the list of countries eligible for H-2 temporary worker visas, a move that could make available hundreds of millions of dollars to the poorest people in the Western Hemisphere. This month a CGD team returned from a trip to Port-au-Prince where they met with Haitian government officials who said that they were determined to implement the program efficiently.
The CGD proposal for preemptive contract sanctions to bring pressure on the Assad regime in Syria to stop civilian killings is outside of our usual work on poverty and inequality but very much within the CGD tradition of encouraging the rich and powerful countries—in this case primarily the United States and United Kingdom—to use creative measures to create a fairer, more just and more prosperous world. Our latest effort in pushing this idea is a draft Declaration Regarding Illegitimate Contracts with the Syrian Government.
While identifying policy opportunities such as these and then pushing for them to become reality, CGD also hosts a lively calendar of events that serve as a nexus for senior officials, development practitioners, academics and experts, and others like you who are a part of the global development community. In the first half of 2012, we hosted engaging, open dialogues on the leadership selection process at the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. We also hosted major speeches by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde on sustainable development ahead of the recent Rio+20 Summit. And we welcomed other "development heavyweights" as speakers at CGD events, including former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, the World Bank's Justin Lin, and the White House's Gayle Smith.
By joining the CGD Society now with a gift of $150 or moreyou will gain preferred access to upcoming CGD conferences, events, and meetings—and the opportunity to exchange ideas with CGD experts and other leading figures in international policy, business, NGO, and media circles. You will be subscribed to our weekly newsletters and blogs , where you can comment on our work on aid, financial services, trade, migration, health, climate change, and other research spheres that enhance opportunities for the world's poor. Society members are acknowledged on our website and have access to the Center's intellectual resources by receiving complimentary copies of our books and reports published throughout the year.
The support of individual donors is fundamental to our independence and future success. I hope that you will choose to invest in CGD today and take advantage of the Hewlett Foundation's commitment to match your individual investment dollar for dollar.
Warm regards,
Nancy Birdsall
President
Center for Global Development
P.S. Please share your knowledge and appreciation of CGD's work with a friend, family member, or colleague by making a contribution on their behalf or inviting them to join you in becoming a member of the CGD Society today.
September 10, 2013
Blog Post
How can we know when an aid project ‘works’?
January 25, 2016
Publication
Many developing countries need the World Bank’s capital less and less. What role should the Bank play in the 21st century? This paper argues that many features of the Bank today reflect a new role. That role, resting on the economic theory of bargaining and public good provision, is to reduce extreme poverty. Donor subsidies to the Bank already reflect this role, which implies new ways to structure and evaluate the Bank’s work.
February 23, 2016
Publication
For decades, migration economics has stressed the effects of migration restrictions on income distribution in the host country. Recently the literature has taken a new direction by estimating the costs of migration restrictions to global economic efficiency. In contrast, a new strand of research posits that migration restrictions could be not only desirably redistributive, but in fact globally efficient. This is the new economic case for migration restrictions: empirically, a case against the stringency of current restrictions.
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