1. A Case against Taxes and Quotas on High-Skill Emigration
- Author:
- Michael Clemens
- Publication Date:
- 05-2014
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development
- Abstract:
- Skilled workers have a rising tendency to emigrate from developing countries, raising fears that their departure harms the poor. To mitigate such harm, researchers have proposed a variety of policies designed to tax or restrict high-skill migration. Those policies have been justified as Pigovian regulations to raise efficiency by internalizing externalities, and as non-Pigovian regulations grounded in equity or ethics. This paper challenges both sets of justifications, arguing that Pigovian regulations on skilled emigration are inefficient and non-Pigovian regulations are inequitable and unethical. It concludes by discussing a different class of policy intervention that, in contrast, has the potential to raise welfare.
- Topic:
- Economics, Human Rights, Human Welfare, Immigration, and Monetary Policy
- Political Geography:
- India