Do border policies reduce flows of Venezuelan migrants?

ABSTRACT

Conventional wisdom suggests that migration policy has a significant, unidirectional effect on migration, namely, that tough policies slash inflows, while the reverse is true for permissive policies. We do not find evidence for this in the current Venezuelan migration crisis. In reality, policies shift following large inflows as much as large inflows follow policy shifts. This finding brings into question the efficacy of unilateral and uncoordinated border policies.

KEYWORDS:

• Migration
• crisis
• Venezuela
• policy shifts

AEA CLASSIFICATION:

• F22

Data sharing statement

The data that support the findings of this study are publicly available. These data were derived from the following resources available in the public domain: https://r4v.info/en/situations/platform

Disclaimer

This article exclusively refers to the views of the authors and not necessarily those of the authors’ institutions nor their Board of Directors.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).