@techreport{NBERw12871,
 title = "Optimal Migration: A World Perspective",
 author = "Jess Benhabib and Boyan Jovanovic",
 institution = "National Bureau of Economic Research",
 type = "Working Paper",
 series = "Working Paper Series",
 number = "12871",
 year = "2007",
 month = "January",
 URL = "http://www.nber.org/papers/w12871",
 abstract = {We ask what level of migration would maximize world welfare. We find that skill-neutral policies are never optimal. An egalitarian welfare function induces a policy that entails moving mainly unskilled immigrants into the rich countries, whereas a welfare function skewed highly towards the rich countries induces an optimal policy that entails a brain-drain from the poor countries. For intermediate welfare functions that moderately favor the rich however, it is optimal to have no migration at all.},
}