Tackling the Policy Challenges of Migration
Regulation, Integration, Development
This book contributes to the current debate on migration policy, focusing on three main elements in the standard migration policy dialogue: the regulation of flows, the integration of immigrants and the impact of labour mobility on development.
In particular it argues that the current governance of international migration is both insufficient and inefficient. Restrictive and non-cooperative migration policies not only affect development in sending countries but also have counterproductive effects in the countries that implement them. Likewise, the lack of integration policies generates costs for society. In this respect, the book focuses on South-South migration and highlights the specific risks of neglecting integration in developing countries. It also analyses the effects of emigration on origin-country labour markets and underlines the externalities of immigration policies in migrant-sending countries.
The book explores the feasibility of implementing a coherent governance framework centred on three complementary objectives: i) a more flexible regulation of international migration flows; ii) a better integration of immigrants in developing countries; and iii) a higher impact of labour mobility on development.
Preface
Centre de Développement de l’OCDE
Co-operation over international migration is in gridlock. Despite their growing need for foreign labour OECD countries have implemented increasingly restrictive migration policies, without always taking into account their effects on other countries. But why, exactly, have policy makers been so reluctant to co-operate on migration issues? And what are the implications of noncooperation? Do migration policies only affect migrant-sending countries or do they also have a cost for the countries implementing them? These questions are occupying increasing political space in OECD countries, and also in many developing countries, which have become, simultaneously, places of origin, transit and destination. Beyond the impact of emigration on development, a number of countries in the South are also facing the challenges of immigration, particularly in terms of social cohesion.