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  5. Asylum Migration to the Developed World: Persecution, Incentives, and Policy

Asylum Migration to the Developed World: Persecution, Incentives, and Policy

  • Timothy J. Hatton
Journal of Economic Perspectives
vol. 34, no. 1, Winter 2020
(pp. 75-93)
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Abstract

The European migration crisis of 2015-2016 and the migrants from Central America gathering on the US border since 2017 have created headlines and presented challenges for Western governments. In this paper, I examine the trends in, and determinants of, the number of asylum seekers applying for refugee status in the developed world. This must be understood against the background of an international policy regime that evolved in response to refugee crises and geo-political imperatives. While policy has drawn a sharp distinction between refugees and other immigrants, that difference has become increasingly blurred among asylum migrants. In this light, I examine the interplay between migration pressures, public opinion, and asylum policies in recent decades.

Citation

Hatton, Timothy J. 2020. "Asylum Migration to the Developed World: Persecution, Incentives, and Policy." Journal of Economic Perspectives, 34 (1): 75-93. DOI: 10.1257/jep.34.1.75

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • F22 International Migration
  • J15 Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
  • J61 Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
  • K37 Immigration Law
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