Does Migration Foster Exports? Evidence from Africa

Ehrhart, Hé ; lè ; ne ; Le Goff, Maë ; lan ; Rocher, Emmanuel ; Singh, Raju Jan

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: BARRIERS TO TRADE;    BILATERAL AGREEMENT;    BILATERAL TRADE;    BRAIN DRAIN;    BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-6739
RP-ID  :  WPS6739

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This paper aims at assessing the impactof migration on export performance and more particularly theeffect of African migrants on African trade. Relying on anew data set on international bilateral migration recentlyreleased by the World Bank spanning from 1980 to 2010, theauthors estimate a gravity model that deals satisfactorilywith endogeneity. The results first indicate that thepro-trade effect of migration is higher for Africancountries, a finding that can be partly explained by thesubstitution between migrants and institutions (theexistence of migrant networks compensating for weak contractenforcement, for instance). This positive association isparticularly important for the exports of differentiatedproducts, suggesting that migrants also play an importantrole in reducing information costs. Moreover, focusing onintra-African trade, the pro-trade effect of Africanmigrants is larger when migrants are established in a moregeographically and ethnically distant country. All thesefindings highlight the ability of African migrants to helpovercome some of the main barriers to African trade: theweakness of institutions, information costs, culturaldifferences, and lack of trust.