How does the internet affect migration decisions?

ABSTRACT

This article provides new evidence on the impact of the internet on migration decisions. I find that an increase in internet adoption among migrant-sending countries reduces the stock of migrants from these locations. The results are robust to a number of specifications, including an instrumental variable approach that addresses the endogeneity of internet adoption. The findings suggest that the internet may weaken the importance of push factors in the decision to migrate, and that these effects outweigh declines in mobility costs.

KEYWORDS:

• The internet
• Migration
• Gravity equation

JEL CLASSIFICATION:

• F22
• L86
• O33
• O15
• J61

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

¹ See Mayda (2010) for a review of the literature.

² This is based on Lewer and Van den Berg (2008).

³ see Santos Silva and Tenreyro (2006)