20 avril 2009
The Impact of Immigration on the Structure of Male Wages: Theory and Evidence from Britain
HDRO Conference Room
Immigration to the UK has risen in the past 10 years and has had a measurable effect on the supply of different types of labour. But, existing studies of the impact of immigration on the wages of native-born workers in the UK (e.g. Dustmann, Fabbri and Preston, 2005) have failed to find any significant effect. This is something of a puzzle since Card and Lemieux, (2001) have shown that changes in the relative supply of educated natives do seem to have measurable effects on the wage structure.
26 March 2009
The role of NGOs in assisting victims of human trafficking
HDRO Conference Room
20,000+ persons are trafficked into the U.S. on a yearly basis, approximately 1500 have been rescued and certified, all of them with the assistance of Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs). The gap is big and more awareness, education and support from the government of sending and receiving countries are needed in order to reduce the number of persons that are victimized due to poverty and injustice.
18 March 2009
Children in Immigrant Families in Eight Affluent Countries
HDRO Conference Room
The first-ever report to present internationally comparable statistics for children in immigrant families will soon be released by the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre. This report will present results for eight affluent countries, focusing on the number and proportion of all children in these countries with at least one immigrant parent, with special attention to those with origins in low and middle income countries.
4 March 2009
South-South Migration and Human Development: a critical review
HDRO Conference Room
This presentation reviews the available evidence for the distinctive contributions of South-South migration to human development, while highlighting the commonalities with other migration paths. It draws particular attention to the conflicting categorisations used to define North and South.
25 February 2009
Migration, Environment and Development: Can Mobility Be a Form of Adaptation?
HDRO Conference Room
Migration is viewed as being essentially a negative phenomenon and a form of forced migration which brings few benefits to those who move or to those left behind. This presentation argues that migration could also be considered as part of an adaptation strategy. The paper explores how migration, and efforts to promote mobility, within and between countries could be part of a broader strategy to help developing countries adapt to climate change and environmental degradation.
18 February 2009
Migration and Displacement in South Africa
HDRO Conference Room
With the political liberation that accompanied the end of South Africa’s apartheid era, domestic and regional migration patterns in the country also underwent major changes. The ensuing integration of South Africa with the Southern African Development Community brought a significant increase in intra-regional migration involving both legal and undocumented cross-border movements of people for a variety of purposes.
17 February 2009
Global Mobility Regimes: A Conceptual Reframing
HDRO Conference Room
This presentation will examine international cooperation (or the lack thereof) on international migration and mobility at the global level. While international migration refers to some 191 million people worldwide who have lived outside of their countries for more than one year, this presentation additionally examines the billions of movements of people annually across international borders for any length of time or purpose, including the tourists, business people, students and commuters.
11 February 2009
Illegal Migration
HDRO Conference Room
In virtually every corner of the world, developed and developing societies alike are struggling with illegal immigration. In many countries, there are few topics more controversial than granting amnesty to illegal aliens. While widespread agreement exists among nations and much of the public on the undesirability of illegal immigration, views differ considerably on how to deal with those already unlawfully residing or working in a country.
4 February 2009
Migration transitions and the migration hump - theoretical reflections and an empirical test
HDRO Conference Room
Going against popular ideas that development will reduce South-North migration, transitional migration theory and the related hypothesis of the "migration hump" predict that constraints-loosening and aspirations-increasing socio-economic development tends to have an inverted U-curve effect on net emigration.
28 January 2009
Latinos and the Economic Downturn
HDRO Conference Room
Co-development is based on the idea that migrants contribute to the development of both their host and origin countries, and that public authorities should aim to maximize the positive effects of migration by spurring the financial and human capital gains associated with international population movements. Against this background, French co-development policy, mainly oriented towards African countries, rests on four main thrusts: productive investment, brain circulation, immigrant return, and integration.
7 January 2009
Assessing the Impact of French Co-Development Policy on African Countries
HDRO Conference Room
Co-development is based on the idea that migrants contribute to the development of both their host and origin countries, and that public authorities should aim to maximize the positive effects of migration by spurring the financial and human capital gains associated with international population movements. Against this background, French co-development policy, mainly oriented towards African countries, rests on four main thrusts: productive investment, brain circulation, immigrant return, and integration.
5 December 2008
Immigration and Common Ownership of the Earth
Rio Conference Room, FF-9th Floor
The idea that humanity collectively owns the earth was central to the political philosophy of an earlier age, but has fallen by the wayside. However, in light of the many problems of global reach that have been preoccupying us recently, it is worth revitalizing this standpoint.
3 December 2008
Integration Strategies: Issues and Possible Solutions
Rio Conference Room, FF-9th Floor
The speaker will discuss some theory and practice relating to the integration of migrants into their host societies and draw on some recent trans-Atlantic research to highlight the practical difficulties and options with which policy makers and practitioners are confronted.
24 November 2008
Migration, PRSPs, and Human Development
Conference Room, DC-1 Building 24th Floor
The presentation will go over PRSPs, migration and policies which may have an impact on migration. In particular, it will address what have been the key policies in developing countries in terms of emigration and immigration, and also internal migration.
21 November 2008
International evidence regarding the labour market impact of immigration
Conference room, FF Building 15th Floor
The increasing proportion of immigrants in the population of many countries has raised concerns about the ‘absorption capacity’ of the labour market, and fueled extensive empirical research in countries that attract migrants. Professor Poot will present conclusions from meta-analyses of the impact of immigration on wages and employment of native-born workers.
19 November 2008
Moving Stories: Transnational Family Separations & Reunifications
Conference Room, FF Building 9th Floor
In the process of migration, families undergo profound transformations that are often complicated by extended periods of separations between family nuclear and extended family members. Data is analysed from a study of 385 youth originating from China, Central America, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Mexico to the US.
18 November 2008
Understanding Global Migration: A Social Transformation Perspective
Norway Conference Room, FF Building 10th Floor
The presentation will examine some of the difficulties of theory formation in international migration studies, and will suggest a way forward. The starting point is an examination of the dominant perception of ‘migration as a problem’.
12 November 2008
Migration data: Strengths and Challenges
HDRO Conference Room
The presentation will focus on different data sources which are available for migration research from an international perspective and review the possibilities and pitfalls for each of them.
10 November 2008
The global welfare economics of immigration
HDRO Conference Room
We calculate the optimal levels of immigration, from the viewpoint of an observer who maximizes global welfare, according to an egalitarian and a utilitarian social welfare function. We compare these levels to the open-borders-equilibrium level.
17 October 2008
Migration, Remittances, and Poverty: Case Studies in West Africa
HDRO Conference Room
This seminar will present results from a new volume of case studies on migration, remittances and poverty in West Africa. The analysis suggests that remittances represent an important source of income for many households, and that the impact of changes in remittances due to shocks (such as a conflict) can be large, at least for those households who do benefit from remittances.
14 October 2008
Remittances and Development
HDRO Conference Room
International migration is driven by major economic, demographic and social disparities as well as conflicts, climate change and environmental degradation or disasters. It has been argued that the benefits of migration to source countries are mostly through remittances. One issue to consider is how the financial sector, through which remittances flow, can impact development.
7 October 2008
Thinking about migration through a capability lens
HDRO Conference Room
Migration can affect the development process. A conventional wisdom has arisen in the international policy and research community that suggests that benefits arising through migration are so limited by the scale of movement, and so diluted by countervailing negative effects, that there are reasons to consider migration a multifaceted threat to the development process in many contexts.
24 September 2008
Circular Migration: Recent Research Highlights
HDRO Conference Room
The Migration Policy Institute (MPI) has developed the concept of circular migration through several papers and presentations at inter-governmental meetings. The institute’s recent work on circular migration has examined the experiences of origin and destination countries in terms of spontaneous and planned circular migration patterns.

Rapport complet [4 823 KB]
Résumé [951 KB]
Errata [70 KB]
Background research [295 KB]
Dépliant [246 KB]
HDR 2009 Statistical Tables [1 540 KB]