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Diaspora effects in international migration: Key questions and methodological issues

Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics volume 146, pages 639–659 (2010)Cite this article

Summary

This paper reviews the existing literature on the impact of migrants networks on the patterns of international migration. It covers the theoretical channels at stake in the global effect of the networks. It identifies the key issues, namely the impact on size, selection and concentration of the migration flows. The paper also reviews the empirical hurdles that the researchers face in assessing the importance of networks. The key issues concern the choice of micro vs a macro approach, the definition of a network, the access to suitable data and the adoption of econometric methods accounting for the main features of those data. Finally, the paper reports a set of estimation outcomes reflecting the main findings of the macro approach.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Luxemburg and CES-Ifo, USA

    Michel Beine

  2. FNRS and IRES, Université Catholique de Louvain, USA

    Frédéric Docquier

  3. DECRG, The World Bank, USA

    Cağlar Özden

Authors
  1. Michel Beine
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  2. Frédéric Docquier
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  3. Cağlar Özden
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Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Beine, M., Docquier, F. & Özden, C. Diaspora effects in international migration: Key questions and methodological issues. Swiss J Economics Statistics 146, 639–659 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03399331

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