TY  - JOUR
AU  - Benhabib,Jess
AU  - Jovanovic,Boyan
TI  - Optimal Migration: A World Perspective
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 12871
PY  - 2007
Y2  - January 2007
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w12871
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w12871.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Jess Benhabib
Department of Economics
New York University
19 West 4th Street, 6th Floor
New York, NY 10012
Tel: 212/998-8971
Fax: 212/995-4186
E-Mail: jess.benhabib@nyu.edu

Boyan Jovanovic
New York University
Department of Economics
19 W. 4th Street, 6th Floor
New York, NY  10012
Tel: 212/998-8953
Fax: 212/995-4186
E-Mail: Boyan.Jovanovic@nyu.edu
AB  - 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.
ER  -