DOES BROADBAND FACILITATE IMMIGRATION FLOWS? A NON-LINEAR INSTRUMENTAL VARIABLE APPROACH

Year 2015, Volume: 4 Issue: 1, 69 - 104, 01.01.2015

Cansu Ünver

Abstract

This paper investigates whether ICT facilitates migration flows from anyone OECD member country to others, and from non-OECD to OECD countries. Among various ICT tools, we primarily focus on broadband. Our instrumental- variable model derives its non-linear first stage from a logistic diffusion model, where pre-existing voice-telephony and cable-TV networks predict maximum broadband penetration. The selection of both OECD- and non- OECD-origin countries, governed by the availability of the data, is based on the magnitude of the flows, leading us to examine those with a minimum number of 100 people (threshold 0.1) who are migrating from source to host, followed by 300 (threshold 0.3) and 500 (threshold 0.5) people. By looking at the efficacy of ICT connections, we intend to fill the gap in the literature on the relationship between communication facilities and migration decisions. We find a strong and positive effect of broadband on migration flows between 1995 and 2009. This effect is more prominent for non-OECD to OECD country pairs. The larger the threshold, the better the results.

Keywords

Determinants of migration, broadband penetration rate, non-linear instrumental variable, OECD and non-OECD countries

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