Transferability of Migration Licenses and the Distribution of Potential Rents

Laura L. Bivins, Kala Krishna

NBER Working Paper No. 8619
Issued in December 2001
NBER Program(s):   ITI   LS

This paper compares the effects of migration restrictions using licenses which are freely traded in a competitive labor market to those that occur when licenses are allocated to firms who are not permitted to trade them. There is reason to expect that a policy of making licenses non-transferable will not only affect production efficiency, but also to allow producers to capture more of the potential migration rents. Applications to migration policies in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are discussed.

(393 K)

Published: Bivins, Laura L. & Krishna, Kala, 2003. "Transferability of migration licences and the distribution of potential rents," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 80(3), pages 323-328, September.

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