Migration as a response to differences in human rights and income: A bilateral panel study

This study addresses the question of why migration persists despite welfare improvements in migrant-sending countries. We show that migrants proceed to a location where the difference in freedom and income relative to their original location is large. Moreover, it is not only the origin-destination differences that play a role, but also the differences of these locations with the rest of the world. We reach our results by controlling for this dependency and possible sample selection biases in the context of origin-destination models.

Key words: International migration, human rights, freedom, income differences, bilateral flow

JEL Classification: F22, F50, F68, O15, P16