Population, Migration and Development

Hillel Rapoport, Paris School of Economics: hillel.rapoport@psemail.eu

Master “Development Economics” and “International Economics”, Winter 2024

Meetings: Wednesday, 14:00-17:00

 

 

Introduction

How does migration affect economic development in home countries? The literature has long emphasized the role of remittances, and of self-selection (e.g., brain drain) on poverty, inequality, human capital formation or other socio-economic outcomes in developing countries. A more recent strand of the literature explores the role of migration networks/diasporas in promoting the economic and cultural integration of source countries into the global economy. This is what the course is about. It will review recent research showing the connections between migration and other dimensions of globalization. The first part of the course will focus on economic globalization (trade, FDI, financial flows, as well as knowledge and technology diffusion). The second part of the course will focus on cultural globalization (in terms of political and other social preferences, and on cultural convergence). At a theoretical level we will convey intuitions on the channels at work using simple models. At the empirical level we will discuss the results from selected studies, mixing cross-country comparisons and natural experiments.

 Grading scheme: Final oral exam 100%