Economic effects of immigration

David Card's 1990 work{{Cite journal |last=Card |first=David |date=1990 |title=The Impact of the Mariel Boatlift on the Miami Labor Market |url=https://davidcard.berkeley.edu/papers/mariel-impact.pdf |journal=Industrial and Labor Relations Review |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=245–257 |doi=10.1177/001979399004300205 |s2cid=15116852 }} – considered a landmark study in the topic – found no effect on native wages or employment rates. It followed the Mariel boatlift, a natural experiment when 125,000 Cubans (Marielitos) came to Miami after a sudden relaxation in emigration rules. It lacked the limitations of previous studies, including that migrants often choose high-wage cities, so increases in wages could simply be a result of the economic success of the city rather than the migrants. But the Marielitos chose Miami simply because it was near Cuba rather than for lucrative wages. Preceding studies were also limited in that firms and natives may respond to migration and its effects by moving to more lucrative areas. However, the six-month period of this migration was too brief for most firms or individuals to leave Miami.{{Cite journal |last=Borjas |first=George J. |date=2017 |title=The Wage Impact of the Marielitos: A Reappraisal |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26944704 |journal=ILR Review |volume=70 |issue=5 |pages=1077–1110 |doi=10.1177/0019793917692945 |jstor=26944704 |issn=0019-7939}}

Another natural experiment followed a group of Czech workers who, shortly after the fall of the Berlin wall, were suddenly able to work in Germany though they continued to live in Czechia. It found significant declines in native wages and employment as a result.{{Cite journal |last1=Dustmann |first1=C |last2=Schonberg |first2=U |last3=Stuhler |first3=J |date=2017 |title=Labor Supply Shocks, Native Wages, and the Adjustment of Local Employment' |journal=The Quarterly Journal of Economics |volume=132 |issue=1 |pages=435–483|doi=10.1093/qje/qjw032 }} It is argued migrants must also spend their wages in the employing country in order to stimulate the economy and offset their burden.{{Cite book |last1=Banerjee |first1=Abhijit |title=Good Economics for Hard Times |last2=Duflo |first2=Esther |publisher=Penguin |year=2019 |location=London}}

According to economists Michael Clemens and Lant Pritchett, "permitting people to move from low-productivity places to high-productivity places appears to be by far the most efficient generalized policy tool, at the margin, for poverty reduction". A successful two-year in situ anti-poverty program, for instance, helps poor people make in a year what is the equivalent of working one day in the developed world. A slight reduction in the barriers to labor mobility between the developing and developed world could do more to reduce poverty in the developing world than any remaining trade liberalization.{{Cite journal | last1 = Walmsley | first1 = Terrie L.|last2=Winters|first2=L. Alan|date=1 January 2005|title=Relaxing the Restrictions on the Temporary Movement of Natural Persons: A Simulation Analysis|journal=Journal of Economic Integration|volume=20|issue=4|pages=688–726|doi=10.11130/jei.2005.20.4.688|jstor=23000667|doi-access=free}} Studies show that the elimination of barriers to migration could have profound effects on world GDP, with estimates of gains ranging between 67 and 147.3%.{{Cite journal|last1=Clemens|first1=Michael A.|last2=Montenegro|first2=Claudio|last3=Pritchett|first3=Lant|date=2 November 2018|title=The Place Premium: Bounding the Price Equivalent of Migration Barriers|journal=The Review of Economics and Statistics|volume=101|issue=2|pages=201–213|doi=10.1162/rest_a_00776|s2cid=109938634|issn=0034-6535|doi-access=free}}{{cite journal |last1= Borjas|first1= G. J.|date= 2015|title= Immigration and Globalization: A Review Essay|journal= Journal of Economic Literature|volume= 53|issue= 4|page= 965|doi= 10.1257/jel.53.4.961|url= https://www.aeaweb.org/jel/ds/5304/jel.53.4.961_ds.zip}}{{Cite journal|last=Bradford|first=Scott|date=2021|title=A global model of migration and poverty|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/twec.13051|journal=The World Economy|language=en|volume=44|issue=4|pages=1018–1030|doi=10.1111/twec.13051|s2cid=225163119|issn=1467-9701}} Research also finds that migration leads to greater trade in goods and services,{{cite web|url=http://www.voxeu.org/article/cross-border-movement-persons-stimulates-trade|title=Cross-border movement of persons stimulates trade | last1 = Aner | first1 = Emilie|last2=Graneli|first2=Anna|date=14 October 2015|website=VoxEU.org|publisher=Centre for Economic Policy Research|last3=Lodefolk|first3=Magnus|access-date=19 October 2015}}{{Cite journal | last1 = Bratti | first1 = Massimiliano|last2=Benedictis|first2=Luca De|last3=Santoni|first3=Gianluca|date=18 April 2014|title=On the pro-trade effects of immigrants |journal=Review of World Economics|volume=150|issue=3|pages=557–594|doi=10.1007/s10290-014-0191-8|issn=1610-2878| url = https://dipot.ulb.ac.be/dspace/bitstream/2013/141126/1/wp13014.pdf| hdl = 11393/195448| s2cid = 4981719}}{{Cite journal | last1 = Foley | first1 = C. Fritz|last2=Kerr|first2=William R.|year=2013 |title=Ethnic Innovation and U.S. Multinational Firm Activity |journal=Management Science |volume=59 |issue=7 |pages=1529–1544 |doi=10.1287/mnsc.1120.1684 |citeseerx=10.1.1.361.36| s2cid = 7275466}}{{Cite journal | last1 = Dunlevy | first1 = James A.|last2=Hutchinson|first2=William K.|date=December 1999|title=The Impact of Immigration on American Import Trade in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries |journal=The Journal of Economic History|volume=59|issue=4|pages=1043–1062|doi=10.1017/S002205070002413X| s2cid = 154985080|issn=1471-6372}}{{Cite journal|last1=Parsons|first1=Christopher|last2=Vézina|first2=Pierre-Louis|title=Migrant Networks and Trade: The Vietnamese Boat People as a Natural Experiment|journal=The Economic Journal|volume=128|issue=612|language=en|pages=F210–F234|doi=10.1111/ecoj.12457|issn=1468-0297|year=2018|hdl=10419/145246|s2cid=154442776|url=http://www.economics.ox.ac.uk/materials/papers/13343/paper705.pdf|access-date=26 August 2020|archive-date=28 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201128000520/https://www.economics.ox.ac.uk/materials/papers/13343/paper705.pdf|url-status=dead}} and increases in financial flows between the sending and receiving countries.{{ Cite journal | last1 = Kugler | first1 = Maurice | last2 = Levintal | first2 = Oren | last3 = Rapoport | first3 = Hillel | title = Migration and Cross-Border Financial Flows | journal = The World Bank Economic Review | volume = 32 | pages = 148–162 | doi = 10.1093/wber/lhx007 | year = 2017 | hdl = 10419/90017 | url = http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/586241493123886865/pdf/WPS8034.pdf }}{{Cite journal | last1 = Egger | first1 = Peter H.|last2=Erhardt|first2=Katharina|last3=Lassmann|first3=Andrea|date=2018|title=Immigration and Firms' Integration in International Production Networks| journal = European Economic Review | volume = 111| pages= 1–34| doi = 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2018.08.009 | hdl = 20.500.11850/293259| s2cid = 158560371| issn = 0014-2921 | hdl-access= free}}

Greater openness to low-skilled immigration in wealthy countries could drastically reduce global income inequality.{{cite web|url=https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WP/Issues/2018/06/14/How-Do-Migration-and-Remittances-Affect-Inequality-A-Case-Study-of-Mexico-45926|title=How Do Migration and Remittances Affect Inequality? A Case Study of Mexico|website=IMF|language=en|access-date=18 August 2018}} According to Branko Milanović, country of residency is by far the most important determinant of global income inequality, which suggests that the reduction in labor barriers could significantly reduce global income inequality.{{Cite news |url=http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/2e3c93fa-06d2-11e6-9b51-0fb5e65703ce.html#axzz46UP6LZZo |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221211221251/https://www.ft.com/content/2e3c93fa-06d2-11e6-9b51-0fb5e65703ce#axzz46UP6LZZo |archive-date=11 December 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=There is a trade-off between citizenship and migration |last1=Milanovic |first1=Branko |date=20 April 2016 |newspaper=Financial Times |issn=0307-1766 |access-date=21 April 2016 }}

A survey of European economists shows a consensus that freer movement of people to live and work across borders within Europe makes the average European better off, and strong support behind the notion that it has not made low-skilled Europeans worse off. According to David Card, Christian Dustmann, and Ian Preston, "most existing studies of the economic impacts of immigration suggest these impacts are small, and on average benefit the native population". In a survey of the existing literature, Örn B Bodvarsson and Hendrik Van den Berg write, "a comparison of the evidence from all the studies... makes it clear that, with very few exceptions, there is no strong statistical support for the view held by many members of the public, mainly that immigration has an adverse effect on native-born workers in the destination country."{{Cite book|title = The economics of immigration: theory and policy|publisher = Springer|year=2013|location = New York; Heidelberg [u.a.]|isbn = 978-1-4614-2115-3 | first1 = Örn B | last1 = Bodvarsson|first2 = Hendrik|last2 = Van den Berg|page = 157|oclc = 852632755}}

Research also suggests that diversity and immigration have a net positive effect on productivity{{Cite journal|last1=Bahar|first1=Dany|last2=Hauptmann|first2=Andreas|last3=Özgüzel|first3=Cem|last4=Rapoport|first4=Hillel|date=2022|title=Migration and Knowledge Diffusion: The Effect of Returning Refugees on Export Performance in the Former Yugoslavia|journal=The Review of Economics and Statistics|volume=106 |issue=2 |pages=287–304|doi=10.1162/rest_a_01165|s2cid=246564474|issn=0034-6535}}{{Cite journal|title = The economic value of cultural diversity: evidence from US cities |journal = Journal of Economic Geography|date = 1 January 2006|issn = 1468-2702|pages = 9–44|volume = 6|issue = 1|doi = 10.1093/jeg/lbi002 | first1 = Gianmarco I. P. | last1 = Ottaviano|first2 = Giovanni|last2 = Peri|url = http://www.nber.org/papers/w10904.pdf}}{{Cite journal | last1 = Peri | first1 = Giovanni|date=7 October 2010|title=The Effect of Immigration on Productivity: Evidence From U.S. States |journal=Review of Economics and Statistics|volume=94|issue=1|pages=348–358|doi=10.1162/REST_a_00137 | s2cid = 17957545|issn=0034-6535| url = http://www.nber.org/papers/w15507.pdf}}{{Cite journal |last1=Mitaritonna |first1=Cristina |last2=Orefice |first2=Gianluca |last3=Peri |first3=Giovanni |year=2017 |title=Immigrants and Firms' Outcomes: Evidence from France |url=http://www.nber.org/papers/w22852.pdf |journal=European Economic Review |volume=96 |pages=62–82 |doi=10.1016/j.euroecorev.2017.05.001 |s2cid=157561906}}{{Cite report | last1 = Razin | first1 = Assaf|date=February 2018|title=Israel's Immigration Story: Winners and Losers |website=National Bureau of Economic Research |doi=10.3386/w24283|doi-access=free}}{{Cite journal | first1 = Gianmarco I. P. | last1 = Ottaviano |first2=Giovanni |last2=Perie |first3=Greg C. |last3=Wright |year=2018 |title=Immigration, Trade and Productivity in Services: Evidence from U.K. Firms |journal=Journal of International Economics |volume= 112|pages=88–108 |doi=10.1016/j.jinteco.2018.02.007 | s2cid = 153400835 | url = http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/dp1353.pdf }} and economic prosperity.{{Cite journal | last1 = Alesina | first1 = Alberto|last2=Harnoss|first2=Johann|last3=Rapoport|first3=Hillel|date=17 February 2016|title=Birthplace diversity and economic prosperity |journal=Journal of Economic Growth|language=en|volume=21|issue=2|pages=101–138|doi=10.1007/s10887-016-9127-6| s2cid = 34712861|issn=1381-4338|url=http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:28652196|type=Submitted manuscript}}{{cite web|url=http://sites.uclouvain.be/econ/DP/IRES/2016028.pdf|title=Multiculturalism and Growth: Skill-Specific Evidence from the Post-World War II Period}}{{Cite journal | last1 = Bove | first1 = Vincenzo|last2=Elia|first2=Leandro|date=1 January 2017|title=Migration, Diversity, and Economic Growth |journal=World Development|volume=89|pages=227–239|doi=10.1016/j.worlddev.2016.08.012|doi-access=free}}{{cite web|url=http://voxeu.org/article/diversity-and-economic-development|title=Cultural heterogeneity and economic development | last1 = Bove | first1 = Vincenzo|last2=Elia|first2=Leandro|date=16 November 2016|website=VoxEU.org|access-date=16 November 2016}}{{Cite journal|last1=Boubtane|first1=Ekrame|last2=Dumont|first2=Jean-Christophe|last3=Rault|first3=Christophe|date=1 April 2016|title=Immigration and economic growth in the OECD countries 1986–2006|journal=Oxford Economic Papers|language=en|volume=68|issue=2|pages=340–360|doi=10.1093/oep/gpw001|s2cid=208009990|issn=0030-7653|url=http://data.leo-univ-orleans.fr/media/search-works/2235/dr201513.pdf|access-date=23 July 2019|archive-date=29 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190429041750/http://data.leo-univ-orleans.fr/media/search-works/2235/dr201513.pdf|url-status=dead}} Immigration has also been associated with reductions in offshoring. A study found that the Age of Mass Migration (1850–1920) contributed to "higher incomes, higher productivity, more innovation, and more industrialization" in the short-run and "higher incomes, less poverty, less unemployment, higher rates of urbanization, and greater educational attainment" in the long-run for the United States.{{Cite journal|last1=Qian|first1=Nancy|last2=Nunn|first2=Nathan|last3=Sequeira|first3=Sandra|title=Immigrants and the Making of America|journal=The Review of Economic Studies|language=en|doi=10.1093/restud/rdz003|year=2019|volume=87|pages=382–419|s2cid=53597318}} Research also shows that migration to Latin America during the Age of Mass Migration had a positive effect on long-run economic development.{{Cite journal|last=SÁNCHEZ-ALONSO|first=BLANCA|date=11 November 2018|title=The age of mass migration in Latin America|journal=The Economic History Review|volume=72|pages=3–31|language=en|doi=10.1111/ehr.12787|hdl=10637/11782|s2cid=158530812|issn=0013-0117|doi-access=free}} A 2016 paper by University of Southern Denmark and University of Copenhagen economists found that the 1924 immigration restrictions enacted in the United States impaired the economy.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-07-09/cuts-to-u-s-immigration-in-1920s-made-great-depression-worse|title=One Sure Way to Hurt the U.S. Economy? Cut Immigration|work=Bloomberg.com|access-date=22 July 2018|language=en}}{{Cite SSRN | last1 = Ager | first1 = Philipp|last2=Hansen|first2=Casper Worm|date=8 November 2016|title=National Immigration Quotas and Local Economic Growth|language=en | ssrn = 2866411}}

The view that economic effects on the average native tends to be only small and positive is disputed by some studies, such as a 2023 statistical analysis of historical immigration data in Netherlands which found economic effects with both larger positive and negative net contributions per capita depending on different factors including previous education and income of the immigrant.[https://demo-demo.nl/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Borderless_Welfare_State-2.pdf Borderless Welfare State, The Consequences of Immigration for Public Finances], Jan H. van de Beek, Hans, Roodenburg, Joop Hartog, Gerri W. Kreffer, 2023, Demo-Demo publisher, Zeist, Netherlands, {{ISBN|9789083334820}}, Statistical data by Project Agreement 8290 Budgetary consequences of immigration in the Netherlands (University of Amsterdam and CBS Microdata Services, 19 June 2018) Effects may vary due to factors like the migrants' age, education, reason for migration,{{Cite journal |last1=Kerr |first1=Sari Pekkala |last2=Kerr |first2=William R. |year=2011 |title=Economic Impacts of Immigration: A Survey |url=https://www.taloustieteellinenyhdistys.fi/images/stories/fep/fep12011/fep12011_kerr_and_kerr.pdf |journal=Finnish Economic Papers |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=1–32}} the strength of the economy, and how long ago the migration took place.{{Cite web |last1=Devlin |first1=Ciaran |last2=Bolt |first2=Olivia |last3=Patel |first3=Dhiren |last4=Harding |first4=David |last5=Hussain |first5=Ishtiaq |date=March 2014 |title=Impacts of migration on UK native employment: An analytical review of the evidence |url=https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/287287/occ109.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240112143308/https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/287287/occ109.pdf |archive-date=12 Jan 2024 |access-date=12 Jan 2024 |website=The Home Office}}

Low-skill immigration has been linked to greater income inequality in the native population,{{Cite journal | last1 = Xu | first1 = Ping|last2=Garand|first2=James C.|last3=Zhu|first3=Ling|date=23 September 2015|title=Imported Inequality? Immigration and Income Inequality in the American States |journal=State Politics & Policy Quarterly|pages=147–171|doi=10.1177/1532440015603814|issn=1532-4400|volume=16|issue=2| s2cid = 155197472|url=http://digitalcommons.uri.edu/psc_facpubs/5|type=Submitted manuscript}}{{Cite journal | last1 = Glen Weyl | first1 = E.|date=17 January 2018|title=The Openness-equality Trade-off in Global Redistribution|journal=The Economic Journal|language=en|volume=128|issue=612|pages=F1–F36|doi=10.1111/ecoj.12469| s2cid = 51027330|issn=0013-0133}} but overall immigration was found to account for a relatively small share of the rise of native wage inequality.{{Cite journal | last1 = Card | first1 = David|date=1 April 2009|title=Immigration and Inequality |journal=American Economic Review|volume=99|issue=2|pages=1–21|doi=10.1257/aer.99.2.1|issn=0002-8282|citeseerx=10.1.1.412.9244| s2cid = 154716407|quote=...the presence of immigration can account for a relatively small share (4–6 percent) of the rise in overall wage inequality over the past 25 years}}{{Cite journal | last1 = Green | first1 = Alan G.|last2=Green|first2=David A.|date=1 June 2016|title=Immigration and the Canadian Earnings Distribution in the First Half of the Twentieth Century |journal=The Journal of Economic History|volume=76|issue=2|pages=387–426|doi=10.1017/S0022050716000541| s2cid = 156620314|issn=1471-6372| url = https://zenodo.org/record/895711}} For example, according to a study, immigration was only responsible for 5% of the increase in wage inequality in the US between 1980 and 2000.{{cite journal

| last = Card

| first = David

| year = 2009

| title = Immigration and Inequality

| journal = NBER Working Paper Series

| volume = 99

| issue = 2

| pages = 1–21

| doi = 10.1257/AER.99.2.1

| url = https://doi.org/10.1257/AER.99.2.1

| access-date = 2024-10-27

}}

Measuring the national effect of immigration on the change of total GDP or on the change of GDP per capita can have distinct results.[https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/43381/ Jiří, Mazurek. "On some issues concerning definition of an economic recession." (2012).]

Research suggests that migration is beneficial both to the receiving and sending countries.{{Cite web | last1 = Willenbockel | first1 = Dirk Andreas |last2=Go|first2=Delfin Sia|last3=Ahmed|first3=S. Amer|date=11 April 2016|title=Global migration revisited: short-term pains, long-term gains, and the potential of south-south migration |website=The World Bank |url=http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/04/26208170/global-migration-revisited-short-term-pains-long-term-gains-potential-south-south-migration|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160503090538/http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/04/26208170/global-migration-revisited-short-term-pains-long-term-gains-potential-south-south-migration|archive-date=3 May 2016|url-status=dead}} According to one study, welfare increases in both types of countries: "welfare impact of observed levels of migration is substantial, at about 5% to 10% for the main receiving countries and about 10% in countries with large incoming remittances". A study of equivalent workers in the United States and 42 developing countries found that "median wage gap for a male, unskilled (9 years of schooling), 35-year-old, urban formal sector worker born and educated in a developing country is P$15,400 per year at purchasing power parity".{{Cite web |title = The Place Premium: Wage Differences for Identical Workers Across the US Border |website=Harvard Kennedy School |url = https://research.hks.harvard.edu/publications/workingpapers/citation.aspx?PubId=6218&type=WPN|date = 15 January 2009 | first1 = Michael | last1 = Clemens}} A 2014 survey of the existing literature on emigration finds that a 10 percent emigrant supply shock would increase wages in the sending country by 2–5.5%.

Remittances increase living standards in the country of origin. Remittances are a large share of the GDP of many developing countries.{{cite journal |last1=Ratha |first1=Dilip |author2=Silwal |year=2012 |title=Remittance flows in 2011 |url=http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTPROSPECTS/Resources/334934-1110315015165/MigrationandDevelopmentBrief18.pdf |journal=Migration and Development Brief –Migration and Remittances Unit, the World Bank |volume=18 |pages=1–3}} A study on remittances to Mexico found that remittances lead to a substantial increase in the availability of public services in Mexico, surpassing government spending in some localities.{{Cite journal |last1=Adida |first1=Claire L. |last2=Girod |first2=Desha M. |date=1 January 2011 |title=Do Migrants Improve Their Hometowns? Remittances and Access to Public Services in Mexico, 1995–2000 |journal=Comparative Political Studies |language=en |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=3–27 |doi=10.1177/0010414010381073 |issn=0010-4140 |s2cid=154767019}}

Research finds that emigration and low migration barriers has net positive effects on human capital formation in the sending countries.{{Cite journal | last1 = Shrestha | first1 = Slesh A.|date=1 April 2016|title=No Man Left Behind: Effects of Emigration Prospects on Educational and Labour Outcomes of Non-migrants |journal=The Economic Journal|volume=127|issue=600|language=en|pages=495–521|doi=10.1111/ecoj.12306| s2cid = 154362034|issn=1468-0297}}{{Cite journal | last1 = Beine | first1 = Michel|last2=Docquier|first2=Fréderic|last3=Rapoport|first3=Hillel|date=1 April 2008|title=Brain Drain and Human Capital Formation in Developing Countries: Winners and Losers |journal=The Economic Journal|language=en|volume=118|issue=528|pages=631–652|doi=10.1111/j.1468-0297.2008.02135.x|issn=1468-0297|hdl=2078.1/5768| s2cid = 28988486| url = http://sites.uclouvain.be/econ/DP/IRES/2006-23.pdf}}{{Cite journal | last1 = Dinkelman | first1 = Taryn|last2=Mariotti|first2=Martine|date=2016|title=The Long Run Effects of Labor Migration on Human Capital Formation in Communities of Origin |journal=American Economic Journal: Applied Economics |volume=8 |issue=4 |pages=1–35 |doi=10.1257/app.20150405 | s2cid = 5140105| url = http://www.nber.org/papers/w22049.pdf}}{{Cite journal | last1 = Batista | first1 = Catia|last2=Lacuesta|first2=Aitor|last3=Vicente|first3=Pedro C.|date=1 January 2012|title=Testing the 'brain gain' hypothesis: Micro evidence from Cape Verde |journal=Journal of Development Economics |volume=97|issue=1|pages=32–45|doi=10.1016/j.jdeveco.2011.01.005|hdl=10419/44193| s2cid = 4489444| url = https://econpapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5048|hdl-access=free}} This means that there is a "brain gain" instead of a "brain drain" to emigration. Emigration has also been linked to innovation in cases where the migrants return to their home country after developing skills abroad.{{Cite book |last=Grönberg |first=Per-Olof |url=https://brill.com/view/title/37970 |title=The Peregrine Profession: Transnational Mobility of Nordic Engineers and Architects, 1880–1930 |date=2019 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-38520-7 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Thorhallsson |first=Baldur |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780429463167 |title=Small States and Shelter Theory: Iceland's External Affairs |publisher=Routledge |year=2018 |isbn=978-0-429-46316-7 |language=en}}

One study finds that sending countries benefit indirectly in the long-run on the emigration of skilled workers because those skilled workers are able to innovate more in developed countries, which the sending countries are able to benefit on as a positive externality. Greater emigration of skilled workers consequently leads to greater economic growth and welfare improvements in the long-run.{{cite web |last1=Xu |first1=Rui |title=High-Skilled Migration and Global Innovation |url=https://web.stanford.edu/~ruix/JMP_Xu.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160104235245/https://web.stanford.edu/~ruix/JMP_Xu.pdf |archive-date=4 January 2016}} The negative effects of high-skill emigration remain largely unfounded. According to economist Michael Clemens, it has not been shown that restrictions on high-skill emigration reduce shortages in the countries of origin.{{Cite journal |last1=Clemens |first1=Michael |last2=Development |first2=Center for Global |last3=USA |year=2015 |title=Smart policy toward high-skill emigrants |url=http://wol.iza.org/articles/smart-policy-toward-high-skill-emigrants |journal=IZA World of Labor |doi=10.15185/izawol.203 |doi-access=free}}

Research also suggests that emigration, remittances and return migration can have a positive effect on political institutions and democratization in the country of origin.{{Cite book |last1=Escribà-Folch |first1=Abel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MPckEAAAQBAJ |title=Migration and Democracy: How Remittances Undermine Dictatorships |last2=Wright |first2=Joseph |last3=Meseguer |first3=Covadonga |date=2022 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-22305-6 |language=en}}{{Cite journal |last1=Docquier |first1=Frédéric |last2=Lodigiani |first2=Elisabetta |last3=Rapoport |first3=Hillel |last4=Schiff |first4=Maurice |date=1 May 2016 |title=Emigration and democracy |url=https://www.hks.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/centers/cid/files/publications/faculty-working-papers/217.pdf |journal=Journal of Development Economics |volume=120 |pages=209–223 |doi=10.1016/j.jdeveco.2015.12.001 |s2cid=15380816}}{{Cite journal |last1=Escribà-Folch |first1=Abel |last2=Meseguer |first2=Covadonga |last3=Wright |first3=Joseph |date=1 September 2015 |title=Remittances and Democratization |url=http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/63711/1/__lse.ac.uk_storage_LIBRARY_Secondary_libfile_shared_repository_Content_Meseguer,_C_Remittances_democratization_Meseguer_Remittances_democratization_2015.pdf |journal=International Studies Quarterly |language=en |volume=59 |issue=3 |pages=571–586 |doi=10.1111/isqu.12180 |issn=1468-2478 |s2cid=28432111 }}{{dead link|date=July 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{cite web |title=Mounir Karadja |url=https://sites.google.com/site/mounirkaradja/ |access-date=20 September 2015 |website=sites.google.com}}{{cite web |date=December 2015 |title=Can emigration lead to political change in poor countries? It did in 19th century Sweden: Guest Post by Mounir Karadja |url=https://blogs.worldbank.org/impactevaluations/can-emigration-lead-political-change-poor-countries-it-did-19th-century-sweden-guest-post-mounir |access-date=4 December 2015 |website=Impact Evaluations}}{{Cite journal |last1=Tuccio |first1=Michele |last2=Wahba |first2=Jackline |last3=Hamdouch |first3=Bachir |date=1 January 2016 |title=International Migration: Driver of Political and Social Change? |url=https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp9794.html |journal=IZA Discussion Papers |language=en |issue=9794 |access-date=13 October 2018}}{{cite web |title=Migration, Political Institutions, and Social Networks in Mozambique |url=https://editorialexpress.com/cgi-bin/conference/download.cgi?db_name=CSAE2016&paper_id=1009}}{{Cite journal |last1=Batista |first1=Catia |last2=Vicente |first2=Pedro C. |date=1 January 2011 |title=Do Migrants Improve Governance at Home? Evidence from a Voting Experiment |journal=The World Bank Economic Review |language=en |volume=25 |issue=1 |pages=77–104 |doi=10.1093/wber/lhr009 |issn=0258-6770 |hdl-access=free |hdl=10419/36182 |s2cid=1813461}}{{Cite SSRN |title=The Effect of Labor Migration on the Diffusion of Democracy: Evidence from a Former Soviet Republic |last1=Mahmoud |first1=Omar |last2=Toman |date=18 September 2013 |ssrn=2327441 |last3=Rapoport |first3=Hillel |last4=Steinmayr |first4=Andreas |last5=Trebesch |first5=Christoph}}{{Cite journal |last1=Escribà-Folch |first1=Abel |last2=Meseguer |first2=Covadonga |last3=Wright |first3=Joseph |date=18 August 2018 |title=Remittances and Protest in Dictatorships |journal=American Journal of Political Science |language=en |volume=62 |issue=4 |pages=889–904 |doi=10.1111/ajps.12382 |issn=0092-5853 |s2cid=158602666|url=http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/89058/ }}{{Cite journal |last=Grewal |first=Sharan |year=2020 |title=From Islamists to Muslim Democrats: The Case of Tunisia's Ennahda |journal=American Political Science Review |language=en |volume=114 |issue=2 |pages=519–535 |doi=10.1017/S0003055419000819 |issn=0003-0554 |doi-access=free}} According to Abel Escribà-Folch, Joseph Wright, and Covadonga Meseguer, remittances "provide resources that make political opposition possible, and they decrease government dependency, undermining the patronage strategies underpinning authoritarianism." Research also shows that remittances can lower the risk of civil war in the country of origin.{{Cite journal |last1=Regan |first1=Patrick M. |last2=Frank |first2=Richard W. |date=1 November 2014 |title=Migrant remittances and the onset of civil war |journal=Conflict Management and Peace Science |language=en |volume=31 |issue=5 |pages=502–520 |doi=10.1177/0738894213520369 |issn=0738-8942 |s2cid=154500219}}

Research suggests that emigration causes an increase in the wages of those who remain in the country of origin. A 2014 survey of the existing literature on emigration finds that a 10 percent emigrant supply shock would increase wages in the sending country by 2–5.5%. A study of emigration from Poland shows that it led to a slight increase in wages for high- and medium-skilled workers for remaining Poles.{{Cite journal |last1=Dustmann |first1=Christian |last2=Frattini |first2=Tommaso |last3=Rosso |first3=Anna |date=1 April 2015 |title=The Effect of Emigration from Poland on Polish Wages |url=http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1468326/ |journal=The Scandinavian Journal of Economics |type=Submitted manuscript |language=en |volume=117 |issue=2 |pages=522–564 |doi=10.1111/sjoe.12102 |issn=1467-9442 |hdl-access=free |s2cid=7253614 |hdl=2434/271640}} A 2013 study finds that emigration from Eastern Europe after the 2004 EU enlargement increased the wages of remaining young workers in the country of origin by 6%, while it had no effect on the wages of old workers.{{Cite journal |last1=Elsner |first1=Benjamin |date=1 September 2013 |title=Emigration and wages: The EU enlargement experiment |url=http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/119098/files/NDL2011-076.pdf |journal=Journal of International Economics |volume=91 |issue=1 |pages=154–163 |doi=10.1016/j.jinteco.2013.06.002 |hdl=10419/48716}} The wages of Lithuanian men increased as a result of post-EU enlargement emigration.{{Cite journal |last1=Elsner |first1=Benjamin |date=10 November 2012 |title=Does emigration benefit the stayers? Evidence from EU enlargement |url=https://econpapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6843 |journal=Journal of Population Economics |language=en |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=531–553 |doi=10.1007/s00148-012-0452-6 |issn=0933-1433 |hdl-access=free |hdl=10419/67322 |s2cid=155884602}} Return migration is associated with greater household firm revenues.{{cite web |last1=Bensassi |first1=Sami |last2=Jabbour |first2=Liza |date=15 July 2015 |title=The effects of return migration on Egyptian household revenues |url=https://editorialexpress.com/cgi-bin/conference/download.cgi?db_name=CSAE2016&paper_id=677 |access-date=11 May 2016 |format=PDF}} Emigration leads to boosts in foreign direct investment to their home country.{{cite web |last1=Mayda |first1=Anna Maria |last2=Parsons |first2=Christopher |last3=Pham |first3=Han |last4=Vézina |first4=Pierre-Louis |date=2020-01-20 |title=Refugees and foreign investment: Quasi-experimental evidence from the US Refugee Resettlement Program |url=https://voxeu.org/article/refugees-and-foreign-investment |access-date=2020-01-20 |website=VoxEU.org}}

Some research shows that the remittance effect is not strong enough to make the remaining natives in countries with high emigration flows better off.

A 2011 literature review of the economic effects of immigration found that the net fiscal effect of migrants varies across studies but that the most credible analyses typically find small and positive fiscal effects on average.{{ Cite journal | first1 = Sari Pekkala | last1 = Kerr | first2 = William R. | last2 = Kerr | year = 2011 | title = Economic Impacts of Immigration: A Survey | journal = Finnish Economic Papers | volume = 24 | issue = 1 | pages = 1–32 | url = https://www.taloustieteellinenyhdistys.fi/images/stories/fep/fep12011/fep12011_kerr_and_kerr.pdf }} According to the authors, "the net social impact of an immigrant over his or her lifetime depends substantially and in predictable ways on the immigrant's age at arrival, education, reason for migration, and similar". According to a 2007 literature review by the Congressional Budget Office, "Over the past two decades, most efforts to estimate the fiscal implications of immigration in the United States have concluded that, in aggregate and over the long term, tax revenues of all types generated by immigrants{{snd}}both legal and unauthorized{{snd}}exceed the cost of the services they use."{{cite web|url=https://www.cbo.gov/publication/41645|title=The Impact of Unauthorized Immigrants on the Budgets of State and Local Governments|date=6 December 2007|access-date=28 June 2016}} A 2022 study found that the sharp reduction in refugee admissions adversely affected public coffers at all levels of government in the United States.{{Cite journal |last=Clemens |first=Michael Andrew |date=2022 |title=The Economic and Fiscal Effects on the United States from Reduced Numbers of Refugees and Asylum Seekers |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/oxrep/grac012 |journal=Oxford Review of Economic Policy |volume=38 |issue=3 |pages=449–486 |doi=10.1093/oxrep/grac012 |issn=1556-5068|hdl=10419/263533 |hdl-access=free }}

A 2018 study found that inflows of asylum seekers into Western Europe from 1985 to 2015 had a net positive fiscal effect.{{Cite journal | last1 = d'Albis | first1 = Hippolyte|last2=Boubtane|first2=Ekrame|last3=Coulibaly|first3=Dramane|date=1 June 2018|title=Macroeconomic evidence suggests that asylum seekers are not a "burden" for Western European countries|journal=Science Advances|language=en|volume=4|issue=6|pages=eaaq0883|doi=10.1126/sciadv.aaq0883|pmid=29938219|pmc=6010334|issn=2375-2548| bibcode = 2018SciA....4..883D}}{{Cite journal | last1 = Maxmen | first1 = Amy|date=20 June 2018|title=Migrants and refugees are good for economies|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05507-0|journal=Nature|language=EN|doi=10.1038/d41586-018-05507-0| s2cid = 169653469|issn=0028-0836}} Research has shown that EU immigrants made a net positive fiscal contribution to Denmark{{Cite journal | last1 = Martinsen | first1 = Dorte Sindbjerg|last2=Pons Rotger|first2=Gabriel|date=5 July 2017|title=The fiscal impact of EU immigration on the tax-financed welfare state: Testing the 'welfare burden' thesis |journal=European Union Politics|page=1465116517717340|doi=10.1177/1465116517717340|issn=1465-1165|volume=18|issue=4| s2cid = 157127175| url = https://curis.ku.dk/ws/files/181936943/Martinsen_Pons_EU_Immigration_Welfare_EUP_2017.pdf}} and the United Kingdom.{{Cite news|url=http://www.migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/the-fiscal-impact-of-immigration-in-the-uk/|title=The Fiscal Impact of Immigration in the UK |work=Migration Observatory|access-date=6 July 2017|language=en-US}}{{cite web |date=18 September 2018 |title=The effects of EU migration on Britain in 5 charts: Did migrants really force down wages and are they a drain on the UK exchequer? |url=https://www.ft.com/content/797f7b42-bb44-11e8-94b2-17176fbf93f5 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221211221234/https://www.ft.com/content/797f7b42-bb44-11e8-94b2-17176fbf93f5 |archive-date=11 December 2022 |access-date=19 September 2018 |website=Financial Times |language=en-GB}} A 2017 study found that when Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants to the United Kingdom gained permission to acquire welfare benefits in 2014 that it had no discernible effect on the immigrants' use of welfare benefits.{{ Cite journal | last1 = Ruhs | first1 = Martin | last2 = Wadsworth | first2 = Jonathan | date = 10 October 2017 | title = The Impact of Acquiring Unrestricted Work Authorization on Romanian and Bulgarian Migrants in the United Kingdom | journal = ILR Review | volume = 71 | issue = 4 | language = en | pages = 823–852 | doi = 10.1177/0019793917735100 | s2cid = 158420236 | issn = 0019-7939 | url = https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:3db79b9a-67f4-4b13-974a-70fc18f48443 }} A paper by a group of French economists found that over the period 1980–2015, "international migration had a positive impact on the economic and fiscal performance of OECD countries."{{cite web|url=https://hal-pjse.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01852411/document|title=Immigration and Government Spending in OECD Countries}} A 2023 study in the Netherlands found both large positive and large negative fiscal effects depending on previous education and income of immigrant.

A survey of leading economists shows a consensus behind the view that high-skilled immigration makes the average American better off.{{cite web|title = Poll Results {{!}} IGM Forum|url = http://www.igmchicago.org/igm-economic-experts-panel/poll-results?SurveyID=SV_0JtSLKwzqNSfrAF|website = www.igmchicago.org|access-date = 19 September 2015}} A survey of the same economists also shows support behind the notion that low-skilled immigration makes the average American better off and makes many low-skilled American workers substantially worse off unless they are compensated by others.{{cite web|title = Poll Results {{!}} IGM Forum|url = http://www.igmchicago.org/igm-economic-experts-panel/poll-results?SurveyID=SV_5vuNnqkBeAMAfHv|website = www.igmchicago.org|access-date = 19 September 2015}}

Studies show more mixed results for low-skilled natives, but whether the effects are positive or negative, they tend to be small either way.{{Cite journal | last1 = Longhi | first1 = Simonetta|last2=Nijkamp|first2=Peter|last3=Poot|first3=Jacques|date=1 October 2010|title=Meta-Analyses of Labour-Market Impacts of Immigration: Key Conclusions and Policy Implications |journal=Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy|language=en|volume=28|issue=5|pages=819–833|doi=10.1068/c09151r| bibcode = 2010EnPlC..28..819L| s2cid = 154749568|issn=0263-774X}}{{Cite journal | last1 = Okkerse | first1 = Liesbet|date=1 February 2008|title=How to Measure Labour Market Effects of Immigration: A Review |journal=Journal of Economic Surveys|language=en|volume=22|issue=1|pages=1–30|doi=10.1111/j.1467-6419.2007.00533.x| s2cid = 55145701|issn=1467-6419}}{{Cite report | last1 = Battisti | first1 = Michele | last2= Felbermayr | first2= Gabriel | last3 = Peri | first3 = Giovanni | last4 = Poutvaara | first4 = Panu | date = 1 May 2014 | title = Immigration, Search, and Redistribution: A Quantitative Assessment of Native Welfare |website=National Bureau of Economic Research | doi = 10.3386/w20131 |doi-access=free}}{{Cite journal | last1 = Dustmann | first1 = Christian|last2=Glitz|first2=Albrecht|last3=Frattini|first3=Tommaso|date=21 September 2008|title=The labour market impact of immigration |journal=Oxford Review of Economic Policy|language=en|volume=24|issue=3|pages=477–494|doi=10.1093/oxrep/grn024|issn=0266-903X|citeseerx=10.1.1.521.9523}}{{Cite book|title=The Economic and Fiscal Consequences of Immigration|last1=Immigration|first1=Panel on the Economic and Fiscal Consequences of|last2=Statistics|first2=Committee on National|last3=Education|first3=Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and|last4=Sciences|first4=National Academies of|last5=Engineering|last6=Medicine|first6=and|editor1-first=Francine D|editor1-last=Blau|editor2-first=Christopher|editor2-last=MacKie|year=2017|isbn=978-0-309-44442-2|language=en|doi=10.17226/23550|hdl=10919/83151|url=http://www.ncsl.org/documents/taskforces/NAS_EconomicImpactsStates_chapter9.pdf|access-date=12 September 2019|archive-date=9 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220609211558/https://www.ncsl.org/documents/taskforces/NAS_EconomicImpactsStates_chapter9.pdf|url-status=dead}}{{Cite journal|last=Edo|first=Anthony|date=2018|title=The Impact of Immigration on the Labor Market|journal=Journal of Economic Surveys|language=en|volume=33|issue=3|pages=922–948|doi=10.1111/joes.12300|s2cid=158532621|issn=1467-6419}} Research indicates immigrants are more likely to work in risky jobs than U.S.-born workers, partly due to differences in average characteristics, such as immigrants' lower English language ability and educational attainment.{{Cite journal|last2=Zavodny|first2=M.|year=2009|title=Do Immigrants Work in Riskier Jobs? |journal=Demography|volume=46|issue=3|pages=535–551|doi=10.1353/dem.0.0064|pmc=2831347|pmid=19771943|last1=Pia m. Orrenius|first1=P. M.|citeseerx=10.1.1.529.311}} According to a 2017 survey of the existing economic literature, studies on high-skilled migrants "rarely find adverse wage and employment consequences, and longer time horizons tend to show greater gains".{{Cite journal | last1 = Kerr | first1 = Sari Pekkala|last2=Kerr|first2=William|last3=Özden|first3=Çağlar|last4=Parsons|first4=Christopher|date=2017|title=High-Skilled Migration and Agglomeration|journal=Annual Review of Economics|volume=9|issue=1|pages=201–234|doi=10.1146/annurev-economics-063016-103705| s2cid = 157793269|url=http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:32062563|type=Submitted manuscript}}

Competition from immigrants in a particular profession may aggravate underemployment in that profession,{{cite web | url =http://tapri.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Final-March-8-Australias-skilled-migration-program.pdf | title =Australia's Skilled Migration Program: Scarce Skills Not Required | last1 = Birrell | first1 = Bob | date =8 March 2016 | website =The Australian Population Research Institute | publisher =Monash University | access-date =15 June 2018 | quote =The great majority of those visaed in the skill program are professionals, an increasing share of whom hold occupations that are oversupplied.}} but increase wages for other natives; for instance, a 2017 study in Science found that "the influx of foreign-born computer scientists since the early 1990s... increased the size of the US IT sector... benefited consumers via lower prices and more efficient products... raised overall worker incomes by 0.2 to 0.3% but decreased wages of U.S. computer scientists by 2.6 to 5.1%."{{ Cite journal | last1 = Bound | first1 = John | last2 = Khanna | first2 = Gaurav | last3 = Morales | first3 = Nicolas | date = 19 May 2017 | title = Reservoir of foreign talent | journal = Science | language = en | volume = 356 | issue = 6339 | page = 697 | doi = 10.1126/science.aan2956 | issn = 0036-8075 | pmid = 28522491 | bibcode = 2017Sci...356..697B | s2cid = 206659473 }} A 2019 study found that foreign college workers in STEM occupations did not displace native college workers in STEM occupations, but instead had a positive effect on the latter group's wages.{{Cite journal|last=Lin|first=Gary C.|date=18 June 2019|title=High-skilled immigration and native task specialization in U.S. cities|journal=Regional Science and Urban Economics|volume=77|pages=289–305|doi=10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2019.06.004|bibcode=2019RSUE...77..289L |s2cid=197794882|issn=0166-0462}} A 2021 study similarly found that highly educated immigrants to Switzerland caused wages to increase for highly educated Swiss natives.{{Cite journal|last1=Beerli|first1=Andreas|last2=Ruffner|first2=Jan|last3=Siegenthaler|first3=Michael|last4=Peri|first4=Giovanni|date=2021|title=The Abolition of Immigration Restrictions and the Performance of Firms and Workers: Evidence from Switzerland|url=https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.20181779|journal=American Economic Review|language=en|volume=111|issue=3|pages=976–1012|doi=10.1257/aer.20181779|s2cid=242370156|issn=0002-8282}} A 2019 study found that greater immigration led to less off-shoring by firms.{{Cite journal|last1=Olney|first1=William W.|last2=Pozzoli|first2=Dario|date=21 August 2019|title=The Impact of Immigration on Firm-Level Offshoring|journal=The Review of Economics and Statistics|volume=103|pages=177–195|doi=10.1162/rest_a_00861|issn=0034-6535|hdl=10398/9656|s2cid=13743885|url=https://research-api.cbs.dk/ws/files/58519479/The_Impact_of_Immigration_on_Firm_Level_Offshoring.pdf|hdl-access=free}}

By increasing overall demand, immigrants could push natives out of low-skilled manual labor into better paying occupations. A 2018 study in the American Economic Review found that the Bracero program (which allowed almost half a million Mexican workers to do seasonal farm labor in the United States) did not have any adverse effect on the labor market outcomes of American-born farm workers.{{Cite journal | last1 = Clemens | first1 = Michael A.|last2=Lewis|first2=Ethan G.|last3=Postel|first3=Hannah M.|date=2018|title=Immigration Restrictions as Active Labor Market Policy: Evidence from the Mexican Bracero Exclusion|journal=American Economic Review|language=en|volume=108|issue=6|pages=1468–1487|doi=10.1257/aer.20170765|pmid=30008480|pmc=6040835|issn=0002-8282|hdl=10419/161135}} A 2019 study by economic historians found that immigration restrictions implemented in the 1920s had an adverse effect on US-born workers' earnings.{{Cite report |last1=Abramitzky|first1=Ran|last2=Ager|first2=Philipp|last3=Boustan|first3=Leah Platt|last4=Cohen|first4=Elior|last5=Hansen|first5=Casper W|date=2019|title=The Effects of Immigration on the Economy: Lessons from the 1920s Border Closure |website=National Bureau of Economic Research |doi=10.3386/w26536|s2cid=208979065|doi-access=free}}

Research on a migration lottery allowing Tongans to move to New Zealand found that the lottery winners saw a 263% increase in income from migrating (after only one year in New Zealand) relative to the unsuccessful lottery entrants.{{Cite journal|title = How Important is Selection? Experimental VS. Non-Experimental Measures of the Income Gains from Migration |journal = Journal of the European Economic Association|date = 1 June 2010|issn = 1542-4774|pages = 913–945|volume = 8|issue = 4|doi = 10.1111/j.1542-4774.2010.tb00544.x|language = en | first1 = David | last1 = McKenzie|first2 = Steven|last2 = Stillman|first3 = John|last3 = Gibson|hdl = 10289/1638|s2cid = 14629302| url=https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/292857/files/06_02.pdf }} A longer-term study on the Tongan lottery winners finds that they "continue to earn almost 300 percent more than non-migrants, have better mental health, live in households with more than 250 percent higher expenditure, own more vehicles, and have more durable assets".{{Cite journal|last1=Gibson|first1=John|last2=Mckenzie|first2=David J.|last3=Rohorua|first3=Halahingano|last4=Stillman|first4=Steven|date=2017|title=The long-term impacts of international migration: evidence from a lottery|url=https://academic.oup.com/wber/article-abstract/32/1/127/3105864?redirectedFrom=fulltext|journal=The World Bank Economic Review|volume=32 |pages=127–147 |doi=10.1093/wber/lhx003 |hdl=10986/32168|hdl-access=free}} A conservative estimate of their lifetime gain to migration is NZ$315,000 in net present value terms (approximately US$237,000).

A 2017 study of Mexican immigrant households in the United States found that by virtue of moving to the United States, the households increase their incomes more than fivefold immediately.{{Cite journal | last1 = Gove | first1 = Michael|date=18 April 2017|title=Migration as Development: Household Survey Evidence on Migrants' Wage Gains |journal=Social Indicators Research|volume=137|issue=3|language=en|pages=1033–1060|doi=10.1007/s11205-017-1630-4| s2cid = 157541486|issn=0303-8300}} The study also found that the "average gains accruing to migrants surpass those of even the most successful current programs of economic development."

A 2017 study of European migrant workers in the UK shows that upon accession to the EU, the migrant workers see a substantial positive effect on their earnings. The data indicate that acquiring EU status raises earnings for the workers by giving them the right to freely change jobs.{{Cite journal | last1 = Ruhs | first1 = Martin|date=1 February 2017|title=The Impact of Acquiring EU Status on the Earnings of East European Migrants in the UK: Evidence from a Quasi-Natural Experiment |journal=British Journal of Industrial Relations|volume=55|issue=4|language=en|pages=716–750|doi=10.1111/bjir.12223| s2cid = 157615154|issn=1467-8543| url = https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:58a9d96c-d1c7-4bfa-a22e-58daeaa4a923}}

A 2017 study in the Quarterly Journal of Economics found that immigrants from middle- and low-income countries to the United States increased their wages by a factor of two to three upon migration.{{Cite journal | last1 = Hendricks | first1 = Lutz|last2=Schoellman|first2=Todd|title=Human Capital and Development Accounting: New Evidence from Wage Gains at Migration|journal=The Quarterly Journal of Economics|volume=133|issue=2|pages=665–700|doi=10.1093/qje/qjx047|year=2017| s2cid = 157828205}}

A 2017 survey of leading economists found that 34% of economists agreed with the statement "The influx of refugees into Germany beginning in the summer of 2015 will generate net economic benefits for German citizens over the succeeding decade", whereas 38% were uncertain and 6% disagreed.{{cite web|url=http://www.igmchicago.org/surveys/refugees-in-germany|title=Refugees in Germany {{!}} IGM Forum|website=www.igmchicago.org|language=en-US|access-date=25 July 2017}} Studies of refugees' effects on native welfare are scant but the existing literature shows mixed results (negative, positive and no significant effects).{{Cite journal |last1=Foged |first1=Mette |last2=Peri |first2=Giovanni |year=2016 |title=Immigrants' Effect on Native Workers: New Analysis on Longitudinal Data |url=https://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/app/0802/2015-0114_app.pdf |journal=American Economic Journal: Applied Economics |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=1–34 |doi=10.1257/app.20150114 |s2cid=5245205 |hdl=10419/110686}}{{Cite journal | last1 = Taylor | first1 = J. Edward|last2=Filipski|first2=Mateusz J.|last3=Alloush|first3=Mohamad|last4=Gupta|first4=Anubhab|last5=Valdes|first5=Ruben Irvin Rojas|last6=Gonzalez-Estrada|first6=Ernesto|date=5 July 2016|title=Economic impact of refugees|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|language=en|volume=113|issue=27|pages=7449–7453|doi=10.1073/pnas.1604566113|issn=0027-8424|pmc=4941434|pmid=27325782| bibcode = 2016PNAS..113.7449T| doi-access = free}}{{Cite journal|last1=Fallah|first1=Belal|last2=Krafft|first2=Caroline|last3=Wahba|first3=Jackline|date=1 June 2019|title=The impact of refugees on employment and wages in Jordan|journal=Journal of Development Economics|volume=139|pages=203–216|doi=10.1016/j.jdeveco.2019.03.009|s2cid=159084500|issn=0304-3878|url=https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/429873/1/JDE_BA_Full_Paper.pdf}}{{Cite journal|title = The impact of Syrian refugees on the labor market in neighboring countries: empirical evidence from Jordan |journal = Defence and Peace Economics|date = 2 January 2016|issn = 1024-2694|pages = 64–86|volume = 27|issue = 1|doi = 10.1080/10242694.2015.1055936|first1 = Ali|last1 = Fakih|first2 = May|last2 = Ibrahim|hdl = 10419/130351|s2cid = 1672742|url = https://www.cirano.qc.ca/files/publications/2016s-05.pdf }}{{Cite journal|title = What are the impacts of Syrian refugees on host community welfare in Turkey ? a subnational poverty analysis (English) {{!}} The World Bank|pages = 1–38|url = http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/01/25838806/impacts-syrian-refugees-host-community-welfare-turkey-subnational-poverty-analysis|website = documents.worldbank.org|access-date = 15 February 2016|date = 28 January 2016|last1 = Inan|first1 = Osman Kaan|last2 = Yang|first2 = Judy}}{{Cite journal | last1 = Tumen | first1 = Semih|date=1 May 2016|title=The Economic Impact of Syrian Refugees on Host Countries: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from Turkey |journal=American Economic Review|volume=106|issue=5|pages=456–460|doi=10.1257/aer.p20161065| s2cid = 2938529|issn=0002-8282}}{{Cite report | last1 = Clemens | first1 = Michael A.|last2=Hunt|first2=Jennifer|date=May 2017 |title=The Labor Market Effects of Refugee Waves: Reconciling Conflicting Results |journal=NBER Working Paper No. 23433 |doi=10.3386/w23433 |doi-access=free }}{{Cite news |title=What the Mariel Boatlift of Cuban Refugees Can Teach Us about the Economics of Immigration: An Explainer and a Revelation |language=en |work=Center For Global Development |url=https://www.cgdev.org/blog/what-mariel-boatlift-cuban-refugees-can-teach-us-about-economics-immigration |access-date=22 May 2017}}{{Cite journal |last1=Card |first1=David |year=1990 |title=The Impact of the Mariel Boatlift on the Miami Labor Market |url=http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp016h440s46f |journal=Industrial and Labor Relations Review |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=245–257 |doi=10.1177/001979399004300205 |s2cid=15116852}}{{Cite report | last1 = Evans | first1 = William N.|last2=Fitzgerald|first2=Daniel|date=June 2017|title=The Economic and Social Outcomes of Refugees in the United States: Evidence from the ACS |website=National Bureau of Economic Research |doi=10.3386/w23498|doi-access=free}}{{Cite journal | last1 = Azarnert | first1 = Leonid V.|date=2018|title=Refugee resettlement, redistribution and growth|journal=European Journal of Political Economy|volume=54|pages=89–98|doi=10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2018.03.007|issn=0176-2680|hdl=10419/162191| s2cid = 157461167| url = https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo1_wp6961.pdf}} According to economist Michael Clemens, "when economists have studied past influxes of refugees and migrants they have found the labor market effects, while varied, are very limited, and can in fact be positive."{{Cite news|url=https://www.cgdev.org/blog/real-economic-cost-accepting-refugees|title=The Real Economic Cost of Accepting Refugees|work=Center For Global Development|access-date=16 September 2017|language=en}} A 2018 study in the Economic Journal found that Vietnamese refugees to the United States had a positive effect on American exports, as exports to Vietnam grew most in US states with larger Vietnamese populations. A 2018 study in the journal Science Advances found that asylum seekers entering Western Europe in the period 1985–2015 had a positive macroeconomic and fiscal effect. A 2019 study found that the mass influx of 1.3 million Syrian refugees to Jordan (total population: 6.6 million) did not have harm the labor market outcomes of native Jordanians. A 2020 study found that Syrian refugees to Turkey improved the productivity of Turkish firms.{{Cite journal|last1=Altındağ|first1=Onur|last2=Bakis|first2=Ozan|last3=Rozo|first3=Sandra|date=2020|title=Blessing or burden? Impacts of refugees on businesses and the informal economy|url=http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304387820300651|journal=Journal of Development Economics|language=en|volume=146|page=102490|doi=10.1016/j.jdeveco.2020.102490|s2cid=226191631|issn=0304-3878}}

A 2017 paper by Evans and Fitzgerald found that refugees to the United States pay "$21,000 more in taxes than they receive in benefits over their first 20 years in the U.S." An internal study by the Department of Health and Human Services under the Trump administration, which was suppressed and not shown to the public, found that refugees to the United States brought in $63 billion more in government revenues than they cost the government.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/18/us/politics/refugees-revenue-cost-report-trump.html|title=Trump Administration Rejects Study Showing Positive Impact of Refugees | last1 = Davis | first1 = Julie Hirschfeld|date=18 September 2017|work=The New York Times|access-date=19 September 2017|last2=Sengupta|first2=Somini|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} According to University of California, Davis, labor economist Giovanni Peri, the existing literature suggests that there are no economic reasons why the American labor market could not easily absorb 100,000 Syrian refugees in a year.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}} A 2017 paper looking at the long-term effects of refugees on the American labor market over the period 1980–2010 found "that there is no adverse long-run impact of refugees on the U.S. labor market."{{Cite journal |url=https://www.state.gov/documents/organization/273699.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190208200159/https://www.state.gov/documents/organization/273699.pdf |archive-date=8 February 2019 |url-status=dead |title=The Labor Market Impact of Refugees: Evidence from the U.S. Resettlement Program | first1 = Anna Maria | last1 = Mayda |first2=Chris |last2=Parsons |first3=Giovanni |last3=Peri |first4=Mathis |last4=Wagner |date=August 2017 |journal=OCE Working Paper 2017-04 }} A 2022 study by economist Michael Clemens found that the sharp reduction in refugee admissions in the United States since 2017 had cost the U.S. economy over $9.1 billion per year and cost public coffers over $2 billion per year.

Refugees integrate more slowly into host countries' labor markets than labor migrants, in part due to the loss and depreciation of human capital and credentials during the asylum procedure.{{Cite journal | last1 = Bevelander | first1 = Pieter|last2=Malmö|first2=University of|date=1 May 2016|title=Integrating refugees into labor markets|url=http://wol.iza.org/articles/integrating-refugees-into-labor-markets/long|journal=IZA World of Labor|doi=10.15185/izawol.269|doi-access=free}} Refugees tend to do worse in economic terms than natives, even when they have the same skills and language proficiencies of natives. For instance, a 2013 study of Germans in West-Germany who had been displaced from Eastern Europe during and after World War II showed that the forced German migrants did far worse economically than their native West-German counterparts decades later.{{Cite journal | last1 = Bauer | first1 = Thomas K.|last2=Braun|first2=Sebastian|last3=Kvasnicka|first3=Michael|date=1 September 2013|title=The Economic Integration of Forced Migrants: Evidence for Post-War Germany |journal=The Economic Journal|language=en|volume=123|issue=571|pages=998–1024|doi=10.1111/ecoj.12023|issn=1468-0297|hdl=10419/61358| s2cid = 812620| url = https://econpapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5855|hdl-access=free}} Second-generation forced German migrants also did worse in economic terms than their native counterparts. A study of refugees to the United States found that "refugees that enter the U.S. before age 14 graduate high school and enter college at the same rate as natives. Refugees that enter as older teenagers have lower attainment with much of the difference attributable to language barriers and because many in this group are not accompanied by a parent to the U.S." Refugees that entered the U.S. at ages 18–45, have "much lower levels of education and poorer language skills than natives and outcomes are initially poor with low employment, high welfare use and low earnings." But the authors of the study find that "outcomes improve considerably as refugees age."

A 2017 study found that the 0.5 million Portuguese who returned to Portugal from Mozambique and Angola in the mid-1970s lowered labor productivity and wages.{{Cite journal | last1 = Mäkelä | first1 = Erik|date=1 September 2017|title=The effect of mass influx on labor markets: Portuguese 1974 evidence revisited |journal=European Economic Review|volume=98|pages=240–263|doi=10.1016/j.euroecorev.2017.06.016| s2cid = 102491721}} A 2018 paper found that the areas in Greece that took on a larger share of Greek Orthodox refugees from the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922 "have today higher earnings, higher levels of household wealth, greater educational attainment, as well as larger financial and manufacturing sectors."{{cite journal |last1=Murard |first1=Elie |last2=Sakalli |first2=Seyhun Orcan |title=Mass Refugee Inflow and Long-Run Prosperity: Lessons from the Greek Population Resettlement |journal=IZA Discussion Papers |date=June 2018 |issue=11613 |url=https://www.iza.org/publications/dp/11613/mass-refugee-inflow-and-long-run-prosperity-lessons-from-the-greek-population-resettlement |access-date=13 October 2018 |language=en }}

Research on the economic effects of illegal immigrants is scant but existing studies suggests that the effects are positive for the native population,{{Cite journal|title = Welfare effects of illegal immigration|journal = Journal of Population Economics|date = 4 June 2008|issn = 0933-1433|pages = 131–144|volume = 22|issue = 1|doi = 10.1007/s00148-007-0182-3|language = en|first1 = Theodore|last1 = Palivos|s2cid = 154625546|url = http://aphrodite.uom.gr/econwp/pdf/immigration1.pdf|access-date = 23 July 2019|archive-date = 12 December 2019|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191212040457/http://aphrodite.uom.gr/econwp/pdf/immigration1.pdf|url-status = dead}}{{Cite journal|title = On the macroeconomic and welfare effects of illegal immigration |journal = Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control|date = 1 December 2010|pages = 2547–2567|volume = 34|issue = 12|doi = 10.1016/j.jedc.2010.06.030 | first1 = Xiangbo | last1 = Liu|url = https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/15469/1/MPRA_paper_15469.pdf}} and public coffers.{{cite web|url=https://voxeu.org/article/effects-legalising-undocumented-immigrants|title=Understanding the effects of legalising undocumented immigrants | last1 = Monras | first1 = Joan|last2=Vázquez-Grenno|first2=Javier|date=15 May 2018|website=VoxEU.org|access-date=16 May 2018|last3=Elias|first3=Ferran}} A 2015 study shows that "increasing deportation rates and tightening border control weakens low-skilled labor markets, increasing unemployment of native low-skilled workers. Legalization, instead, decreases the unemployment rate of low-skilled natives and increases income per native."{{Cite journal|title = The labor market effects of reducing the number of illegal immigrants |journal = Review of Economic Dynamics|date = 1 October 2015|pages = 792–821|volume = 18|issue = 4|doi = 10.1016/j.red.2015.07.005 | first1 = Andri | last1 = Chassamboulli|first2 = Giovanni|last2 = Peri|s2cid = 16242107|url = http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/38v6c3b3|type = Submitted manuscript}} Studies show that legalization of illegal immigrants could boost the U.S. economy; a 2013 study found that granting legal status to illegal immigrants could raise their incomes by a quarter (increasing U.S. GDP by approximately $1.4 trillion over a ten-year period),{{Cite web|url=https://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/EconomicEffectsCitizenship-6.pdf|title=The Economic Effects of Granting Legal Status and Citizenship to Undocumented Immigrants|access-date=14 November 2016|archive-date=14 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220914090655/https://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/EconomicEffectsCitizenship-6.pdf|url-status=dead}} and a 2016 study found that "legalization would increase the economic contribution of the unauthorized population by about 20%, to 3.6% of private-sector GDP."{{Cite report | last1 = Edwards | first1 = Ryan|last2=Ortega|first2=Francesc|date=November 2016|title=The Economic Contribution of Unauthorized Workers: An Industry Analysis|website=National Bureau of Economic Research |doi=10.3386/w22834 |doi-access=free}} A 2018 National Bureau of Economic Research paper found that illegal immigrants to the United States "generate higher surplus for US firms relative to natives, hence restricting their entry has a depressing effect on job creation and, in turn, on native labor markets."{{Cite report | last1 = Chassamboulli | first1 = Andri|last2=Peri|first2=Giovanni|date=2018|title=The Economic Effect of Immigration Policies: Analyzing and Simulating the U.S. Case |website=National Bureau of Economic Research |doi=10.3386/w25074 |doi-access=free | s2cid = 240281198}}

A 2017 study in the Journal of Public Economics found that more intense immigration enforcement increased the likelihood that US-born children with illegal immigrant parents would live in poverty.{{Cite journal |title=Immigration enforcement and economic resources of children with likely unauthorized parents| doi=10.1016/j.jpubeco.2017.12.004|volume=158|year=2018|journal=Journal of Public Economics|pages=63–78 | last1 = Amuedo-Dorantes | first1 = Catalina | last2 = Arenas-Arroyo | first2 = Esther | last3 = Sevilla | first3 = Almudena| s2cid=158175416| url=https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:dccc7ad6-d069-4b62-b19d-25609ac95f71}}

A paper by Spanish economists found that upon legalizing the illegal immigrant population in Spain, the fiscal revenues increased by around €4,189 per newly legalized immigrant. The paper found that the wages of the newly legalized immigrants increased after legalization, some low-skilled natives had worse labor market outcomes and high-skilled natives had improved labor market outcomes.

A 2018 study found no evidence that apprehensions of illegal immigrants in districts in the United States improved the labor market outcomes for American natives.{{Cite journal|date=2018|title=Do Apprehensions of Undocumented Immigrants Reduce Crime and Create Jobs? Evidence from U.S. Districts, 2000–2015|url=https://lawreview.law.ucdavis.edu/issues/52/1/Symposium/52-1_Hines_Peri.pdf|journal=UC Davis Law Review}} A 2020 study found that immigration enforcement in the US leads to declining production in the US dairy industry and that dairy operators respond to immigration enforcement by automating their operations (rather than hire new labor).{{Cite journal|last1=Charlton|first1=Diane|last2=Kostandini|first2=Genti|title=Can Technology Compensate for a Labor Shortage? Effects of 287(g) Immigration Policies on the U.S. Dairy Industry|journal=American Journal of Agricultural Economics|year=2020|volume=103|language=en|pages=70–89|doi=10.1111/ajae.12125|s2cid=225430289|issn=1467-8276}}

A 2021 study in the American Economic Journal found that illegal immigrants had beneficial effects on the employment and wages of American natives. Stricter immigration enforcement adversely affected employment and wages of American natives.{{Cite journal|last=Albert|first=Christoph|date=2021|title=The Labor Market Impact of Immigration: Job Creation versus Job Competition|url=https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/mac.20190042|journal=American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics|language=en|volume=13|issue=1|pages=35–78|doi=10.1257/mac.20190042|s2cid=210054914|issn=1945-7707}}

A 2017 survey of the existing economic literature found that "high-skilled migrants boost innovation and productivity outcomes." According to a 2013 survey of the existing economic literature, "much of the existing research points towards positive net contributions by immigrant entrepreneurs."{{Cite journal|last1=Fairlie|first1=Robert W.|last2=Lofstrom|first2=Magnus|date=2015|title=Immigration and Entrepreneurship|url=https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp7669.html|journal=Handbook on the Economics of International Immigration|series=Handbook of the Economics of International Migration|volume=1|issue=7669|pages=877–911|doi=10.1016/B978-0-444-53768-3.00017-5|isbn=978-0-444-63372-9|s2cid=152830080}} Areas where immigrant are more prevalent in the United States have substantially more innovation (as measured by patenting and citations).{{Cite journal | last1 = Ufuk | first1 = Akcigit|last2=John|first2=Grigsby|last3=Tom|first3=Nicholas|date=1 May 2017|title=Immigration and the Rise of American Ingenuity|journal=American Economic Review|language=en|volume=107|issue=5|doi=10.1257/aer.p20171021|issn=0002-8282|pages=327–331| s2cid = 35552861| url = http://www.nber.org/papers/w23137.pdf}} Immigrants to the United States create businesses at higher rates than natives.{{Cite journal | last1 = Kerr | first1 = Sari Pekkala|last2=Kerr|first2=William R. |title=Immigrant Entrepreneurship |journal=Harvard Business School Working Paper Series # 17-011 |date=June 2016 | url = http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:27864359}}

• {{cite report |last1=Kerr |first1=Sari Pekkala |last2=Kerr |first2=William R. |date=July 2016 |title=Immigrant Entrepreneurship |doi=10.3386/w22385 |doi-access=free}} A 2010 study showed "that a 1 percentage point increase in immigrant college graduates' population share increases patents per capita by 9–18 percent."{{Cite journal | last1 = Hunt | first1 = Jennifer|last2=Gauthier-Loiselle|first2=Marjolaine|date=1 January 2010|title=How Much Does Immigration Boost Innovation?|jstor=25760296|journal=American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics|volume=2|issue=2|pages=31–56|doi=10.1257/mac.2.2.31| s2cid = 15707203| url = http://www.nber.org/papers/w14312.pdf}} Mass migration can also boost innovation and growth, as shown by the Jewish, Huguenot and Bohemian diasporas in Berlin and Prussia,{{Cite journal|title = Immigration and the Diffusion of Technology: The Huguenot Diaspora in Prussia |journal = American Economic Review|pages = 84–122|volume = 104|issue = 1|doi = 10.1257/aer.104.1.84 | first1 = Erik | last1 = Hornung|year=2014|hdl = 10419/37227|url = http://www.aeaweb.org/aer/data/jan2014/20111335_app.pdf}}{{Cite journal|last=Hornung|first=Erik|date=2018|title=Diasporas, Diversity, and Economic Activity: Evidence from 18th-century Berlin|journal=Explorations in Economic History|volume=73|page=101261|doi=10.1016/j.eeh.2018.10.001|s2cid=53649771|issn=0014-4983}}{{Cite book|title=The Economy of Europe in an Age of Crisis, 1600–1750|last1=de Vries|first1=Jan|year=1976|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-21123-9|pages=[https://archive.org/details/economyofeuropei00devr/page/87 87–88]|language=en|doi=10.1017/cbo9781107049772|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/economyofeuropei00devr/page/87}} German Jewish Émigrés in the US,{{Cite journal|title = German Jewish Émigrés and US Invention |journal = American Economic Review|pages = 3222–3255|volume = 104|issue = 10|doi = 10.1257/aer.104.10.3222 | first1 = Petra | last1 = Moser|first2 = Alessandra|last2 = Voena|first3 = Fabian|last3 = Waldinger|year=2014|url = http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/68322/}} the Mariel boatlift,{{cite web|url = http://druid8.sit.aau.dk/druid/acc_papers/ddc0o0tvadau53k1v2ljajs07a0x.pdf|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160217235326/http://druid8.sit.aau.dk/druid/acc_papers/ddc0o0tvadau53k1v2ljajs07a0x.pdf|url-status = dead|archive-date = 17 February 2016|title = The Mariel Boatlift – A Natural Experiment in Low-Skilled Immigration and Innovation| last1 = Harris | first1 = Rachel Anne}} the exodus of Soviet Jews to Israel in the 1990s, European migration to Argentina during the Age of Mass Migration (1850–1914),{{Cite journal | last1 = Droller | first1 = Federico|date=1 March 2017|title=Migration, Population Composition, and Long Run Economic Development: Evidence from Settlements in the Pampas |journal=The Economic Journal|volume=128|issue=614|language=en|pages=2321–2352|doi=10.1111/ecoj.12505| s2cid = 53352818|issn=1468-0297}} west-east migration in the wake of German reunification,{{Cite journal|last1=Hausmann|first1=Ricardo|last2=Neffke|first2=Frank M. H.|date=2019|title=The workforce of pioneer plants: The role of worker mobility in the diffusion of industries|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004873331830249X|journal=Research Policy|language=en|volume=48|issue=3|pages=628–648|doi=10.1016/j.respol.2018.10.017|s2cid=158524654|issn=0048-7333}} German migration to Russian Empire,{{Cite journal|date=2021|title=Skilled immigrants and technology adoption: Evidence from the German settlements in the Russian Empire|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0014498321000176|journal=Explorations in Economic History|language=en|doi=10.1016/j.eeh.2021.101399|issn=0014-4983|last1=Natkhov|first1=Timur|last2=Vasilenok|first2=Natalia|volume=81|page=101399|s2cid=233521311}} and Polish immigration to Germany after joining the EU.{{Cite news|url=http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessreview/2018/05/10/polish-immigrants-stimulate-innovation-in-germany/|title=Polish immigrants stimulate innovation in Germany|date=10 May 2018|work=LSE Business Review|access-date=30 September 2018|language=en-US}} A 2018 study in the Economic Journal found that "a 10% increase in immigration from exporters of a given product is associated with a 2% increase in the likelihood that the host country starts exporting that good 'from scratch' in the next decade."{{Cite journal | last1 = Bahar | first1 = Dany|last2=Rapoport|first2=Hillel|title=Migration, Knowledge Diffusion and the Comparative Advantage of Nations |journal=The Economic Journal|volume=128|issue=612|language=en|pages=F273–F305|doi=10.1111/ecoj.12450|issn=1468-0297|year=2018|hdl=10419/130392| s2cid = 54856798| url = http://scholar.harvard.edu/dbaharc/node/97706}} A 2024 Quarterly Journal of Economics study found that EU migration to the United States had substantial economic benefits on both the EU and the US in the long-term, as EU migrants become vastly more productive and innovative after moving to the United States.{{Cite journal |last=Prato |first=Marta |date=2024 |title=The Global Race for Talent: Brain Drain, Knowledge Transfer, and Growth |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjae040 |journal=Quarterly Journal of Economics |volume=140 |pages=165–238 |doi=10.1093/qje/qjae040}}

Immigrants have been linked to greater invention and innovation.{{Cite journal | last1 = Kerr | first1 = William R.|date=1 January 2010|title=Breakthrough inventions and migrating clusters of innovation |journal=Journal of Urban Economics|series=Special Issue: Cities and Entrepreneurship – Sponsored by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation (www.kauffman.org)|volume=67|issue=1|pages=46–60|doi=10.1016/j.jue.2009.09.006|citeseerx=10.1.1.461.9614}}{{Cite report | last1 = Khanna | first1 = Gaurav|last2=Lee|first2=Munseob|date=2018|title=High-Skill Immigration, Innovation, and Creative Destruction |website=National Bureau of Economic Research | doi = 10.3386/w24824|doi-access=free}}{{Cite book|url=https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=29770|title=The Gift of Global Talent: How Migration Shapes Business, Economy & Society|last=Kerr|first=William|year=2018|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=978-1-5036-0502-2}}{{Cite report |last1=Dimmock|first1=Stephen G|last2=Huang|first2=Jiekun|last3=Weisbenner|first3=Scott J|date=2019|title=Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, Your High-Skilled Labor: H-1B Lottery Outcomes and Entrepreneurial Success|website=National Bureau of Economic Research |doi=10.3386/w26392|doi-access=free}}{{cite web|url=https://voxeu.org/article/how-migration-helps-countries-become-competitive-innovating-new-technologies|title=How migration helps countries become competitive at innovating in new technologies|last1=Bahar|first1=Dany|last2=Choudhury|first2=Raj|date=2020-02-28|website=VoxEU.org|access-date=2020-03-02|last3=Rapoport|first3=Hillel}}{{Cite report |last1=Burchardi|first1=Konrad B|last2=Chaney|first2=Thomas|last3=Hassan|first3=Tarek Alexander|last4=Tarquinio|first4=Lisa|last5=Terry|first5=Stephen J|date=2020|title=Immigration, Innovation, and Growth |website=National Bureau of Economic Research |doi=10.3386/w27075 |doi-access=free |s2cid=85560970}} According to one report, "immigrants have started more than half (44 of 87) of America's startup companies valued at $1 billion dollars or more and are key members of management or product development teams in over 70 percent (62 of 87) of these companies."{{Cite web|url=http://nfap.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Immigrants-and-Billion-Dollar-Startups.NFAP-Policy-Brief.March-2016.pdf|title=Immigrants and Billion Dollar Startups}} One analysis found that immigrant-owned firms had a higher innovation rate (on most measures of innovation) than firms owned by U.S.-born entrepreneurs.{{Cite report |last1=Brown|first1=J. David|last2=Earle|first2=John S|last3=Kim|first3=Mee Jung|last4=Lee|first4=Kyung Min|date=2019|title=Immigrant Entrepreneurs and Innovation in the U.S. High-Tech Sector |website=National Bureau of Economic Research |doi=10.3386/w25565 |doi-access=free |hdl=10419/196688|s2cid=169210007|hdl-access=free}} Research also shows that labor migration increases human capital.{{cite web|url=http://www.cgdev.org/publication/skilled-emigration-and-skill-creation-quasi-experiment-working-paper-152|title=Skilled Emigration and Skill Creation: A quasi-experiment – Working Paper 152|date=30 September 2008 |access-date=3 July 2016 |last1=Chand |first1=Satish |last2=Clemens |first2=Michael }} Foreign doctoral students are a major source of innovation in the American economy.{{Cite journal | last1 = Stuen | first1 = Eric T.|last2=Mobarak|first2=Ahmed Mushfiq|last3=Maskus|first3=Keith E.|date=1 December 2012|title=Skilled Immigration and Innovation: Evidence from Enrollment Fluctuations in US Doctoral Programmes |journal=The Economic Journal|language=en|volume=122|issue=565|pages=1143–1176|doi=10.1111/j.1468-0297.2012.02543.x|issn=1468-0297|citeseerx=10.1.1.712.2787| s2cid = 19741509}} In the United States, immigrant workers hold a disproportionate share of jobs in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM): "In 2013, foreign-born workers accounted for 19.2 percent of STEM workers with a bachelor's degree, 40.7 percent of those with a master's degree, and more than half{{snd}}54.5 percent{{snd}}of those with a PhD"{{cite web|url=https://www.nber.org/digest/nov16/immigrants-play-key-role-stem-fields|title=Immigrants Play a Key Role in STEM Fields|website=NBER}}

Using 130 years of data on historical migrations to the United States, one study finds "that a doubling of the number of residents with ancestry from a given foreign country relative to the mean increases by 4.2 percentage points the probability that at least one local firm invests in that country, and increases by 31% the number of employees at domestic recipients of FDI from that country. The size of these effects increases with the ethnic diversity of the local population, the geographic distance to the origin country, and the ethno-linguistic fractionalization of the origin country."{{Cite report |title=Migrants, Ancestors, and Investments | first1 = Konrad B. | last1 = Burchardi |first2=Thomas |last2=Chaney |first3=Tarek A. |last3=Hassan |website=National Bureau of Economic Research |date=January 2016 |doi=10.3386/w21847 |doi-access=free }} A 2017 study found that "immigrants' genetic diversity is significantly positively correlated with measures of U.S. counties' economic development [during the Age of Mass Migration]. There exists also a significant positive relationship between immigrants' genetic diversity in 1870 and contemporaneous measures of U.S. counties' average income."{{Cite journal | last1 = Ager | first1 = Philipp|last2=Brueckner|first2=Markus|title=Immigrants' Genes: Genetic Diversity and Economic Development in the United States |journal=Economic Inquiry|volume=56|issue=2|language=en|pages=1149–1164|doi=10.1111/ecin.12540|issn=1465-7295|year=2017| s2cid = 158553197}}

Some research suggests that immigration can offset some of the adverse effects of automation on native labor outcomes.{{Cite report | last1 = Basso | first1 = Gaetano|last2=Peri|first2=Giovanni|last3=Rahman|first3=Ahmed|date=October 2017|title=Computerization and Immigration: Theory and Evidence from the United States |website=National Bureau of Economic Research |doi=10.3386/w23935 |doi-access=free}}{{cite web|url=http://voxeu.org/article/immigration-era-automation|title=The impact of immigration on wage distributions in the era of technical automation | last1 = Basso | first1 = Gaetano|last2=Peri|first2=Giovanni|date=12 January 2018|website=VoxEU.org|access-date=12 January 2018|last3=Rahman|first3=Ahmed}}

{{Columns-list|colwidth=20em|

• Economic impact of immigration to Canada
• Immigration country
• Immigration reform
• Multiculturalism
• People smuggling
• Repatriation
• Replacement migration
• Non-citizen suffrage
• Non-resident citizen voting
• Skilled worker#Migration
• White genocide conspiracy theory
• Women migrant workers from developing countries
• Xenophobia

}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Refbegin|30em}}

• {{cite book | last1 = Bartram | first1 = David | last2 = Poros | first2 = Maritsa | last3 = Monforte | first3 = Pierre | year = 2014 | title = Key Concepts in Migration | url = https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/key-concepts-in-migration/book235105 | location = London | publisher = Sage | isbn = 978-0-85702-079-6 }}
• {{cite book | last=Bauder | first=H. | title=Labor Movement: How Migration Regulates Labor Markets | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=2006 | isbn=978-0-19-020835-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lF5iAwAAQBAJ | access-date=20 May 2023 }}
• {{Cite book | last1 = Borjas | first1 = George J. |author-link= George J. Borjas |year= 2014 |title= Immigration Economics |location= Cambridge, MA |publisher= Harvard University Press |isbn= 978-0-674-04977-2 }}
• Borjas, George. [https://www.innovations.harvard.edu/increasing-supply-labor-through-immigration-measuring-impact-native-born-workers "Increasing the Supply of Labor Through Immigration"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201019215523/https://www.innovations.harvard.edu/increasing-supply-labor-through-immigration-measuring-impact-native-born-workers |date=19 October 2020 }}. Center for Immigration Studies, May 2004.
• {{cite web |last1=Burtless |first1=Gary |title=Impact of Immigration on the Distribution of American Well-Being |website=Center for Retirement Research at Boston College |date=1 December 2009 |url=http://crr.bc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/wp2009-34-508.pdf |access-date=15 October 2018 |language=en |ssrn=1553271 }}
• {{cite book | last=Torre | first=Miguel A. De La | title=Trails of Hope and Terror | publisher=Orbis Books | date=2009 | isbn=978-1-57075-798-3}}
• Esbenshade, Jill. Division and Dislocation: Regulating Immigration through Local Housing Ordinances. Immigration Policy Center, American Immigration Law Foundation, Summer 2007.
• Ewing, Walter A. Border Insecurity: U.S. Border-Enforcement Policies and National Security, Immigration Policy Center, American Immigration Law Foundation, Spring 2006.
• Fell, Peter and Hayes, Debra. What are they Doing Here? A Critical Guide to Asylum and Immigration, Birmimgham, Venture Press, 2007.
• {{Cite book |last1= Fitzgerald | first1 = David Scott |last2= Cook-Martin |first2= David |year= 2014 |title= Culling the Masses: The Democratic Origins of Racist Immigration Policy in the Americas |location= Cambridge, MA |publisher= Harvard University Press |isbn= 978-0-674-72904-9 }}
• Immigration Policy Center. Economic Growth & Immigration: Bridging the Demographic Divide. Immigration Policy Center, American Immigration Law Foundation, November 2005.
• {{cite web |title=Immigration: The Demographic and Economic Facts |url=http://www.cato.org/pubs/policy_report/pr-immig.html#contents |publisher=Cato Institute |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100701013631/http://www.cato.org/pubs/policy_report/pr-immig.html#contents |archive-date=1 July 2010 |date=1995 }}
• {{cite journal | last1 = Karakayali | first1 = Nedim | year = 2005 | title = Duality and Diversity in the Lives of Immigrant Children: Rethinking the 'Problem of Second Generation' in Light of Immigrant Autobiographies | journal = Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology | volume = 42 | issue = 3| pages = 325–344 | doi = 10.1111/j.1755-618X.2005.tb00843.x | hdl = 11693/38069 | hdl-access = free }}
• {{cite book |last1=Kolb |first1=Eva |title=The Evolution of New York City's Multiculturalism: Melting Pot or Salad Bowl: Immigrants in New York from the 19th Century until the End of the Gilded Age |date=2009 |publisher=Books on Demand |isbn=978-3-8370-9303-2 |edition=1. Aufl}}
• {{cite book |last1=Legrain |first1=Philippe |author-link1=Philippe Legrain |title=Immigrants: your country needs them |date=2007 |publisher=Little Brown |isbn=978-0-316-73248-2 |edition=First Princetonition}}
• Massey, Douglas S. Beyond the Border Buildup: Towards a New Approach to Mexico-U.S. Migration. Immigration Policy Center, American Immigration Law Foundation, September 2005.
• {{cite book |last1= Massey | first1 = Douglas S. |last2= Arango |first2= Joaquín |last3= Graeme |first3= Hugo |last4= Kouaouci |first4= Ali |last5=Adela |first5= Pellegrino |last6= Taylor |first6= J. Edward |title=Worlds in Motion: Understanding International Migration at the End of the Millennium |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-19-928276-0 |year=2005 }}
• {{cite book |last1=Meilander |first1=Peter C. |title=Toward a theory of immigration |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-0-312-24034-9 |edition=1st|year=2001 }}
• {{cite book | last=Molina | first=N. | title=Fit to Be Citizens?: Public Health and Race in Los Angeles, 1879–1939 | publisher=University of California Press | series=American Crossroads | year=2006 | isbn=978-0-520-24649-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7bEwDwAAQBAJ | access-date=20 May 2023 }}
• {{cite book | last1 = Myers | first1 = Dowell |author-link= Dowell Myers|title=Immigrants and Boomers: Forging a New Social Contract for the Future of America |publisher=Russell Sage Foundation |isbn=978-0-87154-636-4|title-link=Immigrants and Boomers: Forging a New Social Contract for the Future of America |year=2007 }}
• Passel, Jeffrey S. [http://pewhispanic.org/reports/report.php?ReportID=44 Estimates of the Size and Characteristics of the Undocumented Population] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071231192402/http://pewhispanic.org/reports/report.php?ReportID=44 |date=31 December 2007 }}. Pew Hispanic Center, March 2005.
• Passel, Jeffrey S. [http://pewhispanic.org/reports/report.php?ReportID=74 Growing Share of Immigrants Choosing Naturalization] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071228175822/http://pewhispanic.org/reports/report.php?ReportID=74 |date=28 December 2007 }}. Pew Hispanic Center, March 2007.
• Passel, Jeffrey S. and Roberto Suro. [http://pewhispanic.org/reports/report.php?ReportID=53 Rise, Peak and Decline: Trends in U.S. Immigration] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071231192407/http://pewhispanic.org/reports/report.php?ReportID=53 |date=31 December 2007 }}. Pew Hispanic Center, September 2005.
• Pearce, Susan C. Immigrant Women in the United States: A Demographic Portrait. Immigration Policy Center, American Immigration Law Foundation, Summer 2006.
• {{cite journal |last1=Portes |first1=Alejandro |last2=Böröcz |first2=József |author2-link=József Böröcz |title=Contemporary Immigration: Theoretical Perspectives on Its Determinants and Modes of Incorporation |journal=The International Migration Review |date=1989 |volume=23 |issue=3 (Special Silver Anniversary Issue: International Migration an Assessment for the 90's ) |pages=606–630 |doi=10.2307/2546431 |url=http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~jborocz/apbjimr.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080216013343/http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~jborocz/apbjimr.pdf |archive-date=February 16, 2008 |access-date=15 October 2018 |jstor=2546431 |pmid=12282796 }}
• Rumbaut, Ruben and Walter Ewing. "The Myth of Immigrant Criminality and the Paradox of Assimilation: Incarceration Rates among Native and Foreign-Born Men." The Immigration Policy Center, Spring 2007.
• Sintès Pierre, La raison du mouvement : territoires et réseaux de migrants albanais en Grèce, Karthala, Maison Méditerranéenne des sciences de l'homme, Ecole française d'Athènes, Paris – Aix-en-Provence – Athens, 2010.
• {{cite book |last1=Sirkeci |first1=Ibrahim |title=The Environment of Insecurity in Turkey and the Emigration of Turkish Kurds to Germany |date=2006 |publisher=Edwin Mellen Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-7734-5739-3 |url=http://www.mellenpress.com/mellenpress.cfm?bookid=6794&pc=9 |access-date=15 October 2018 }}
• {{cite book |last1=Valle |first1=Isabel |title=Fields of Toil: A Migrant Family's Journey |publisher=Washington State University Press |isbn=978-0-87422-101-5 |date=1994 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/fieldsoftoilmigr00vall }}
• {{cite book |last1=Zolberg|first1=Aristide R. |title= A Nation by Design: Immigration Policy in the Fashioning of America |publisher= Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-02218-8 |year=2006}}

{{Refend}}

{{Wiktionary}}

{{Wikiquote}}

{{AmCyc Poster|Emigration|Immigration}}

• {{commons category-inline|Immigration}}

{{Africa topic|Immigration to}}

{{South America topic|Immigration to}}

{{North America topic|Immigration to}}

{{Asia topic|Immigration to}}

{{Oceania topic|Immigration to}}

{{Europe topic|Immigration to}}

{{Population}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Majority–minority relations