Social Science > Emigration and Immigration

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International Monetary Fund. Asia and Pacific Dept
This Selected Issues paper investigates why New Zealand’s inflation is higher and further from target than comparator economies considering two main hypotheses: (1) the persistence of pandemic era shocks, and (2) strong migration inflows fuelling demand. The paper finds that, like in many advanced economies, expansionary fiscal and monetary policy, high global commodity prices, exchange rates, and high maritime transport costs all fed into higher inflation. However, unique for New Zealand, the delayed reopening of the economy likely caused a postponed demand shock relative to similar economies. Results show that the impact of these shocks decay rapidly over time, suggesting positive short-term inflation dynamics. With an eye for what lies ahead, the paper finds that large migration waves are associated with short-run increases in inflation, but that these effects are relatively modest and no longer significant after four years. Instead, the long-run dynamics show evidence that migration can lead to significant long-term gains to productivity, output, and capital growth. Countries with tight labor markets exhibit similar patterns to those without, except the inflationary effects of migration dissipate faster.
International Monetary Fund. Asia and Pacific Dept
This Selected Issues paper discusses interactions between external risks and the New Zealand economy. The current set of external risks has the potential to be extremely damaging to New Zealand, but two factors would likely mitigate the economic impact. First, the flexible exchange rate regime is a reliable shock absorber and automatic stabilizer from the perspective of GDP, although it leads to a rebalancing between the domestic and external sectors in the economy. Second, net migration flows can reduce the negative impact of lower external demand under some circumstances, such as a growth slowdown in Australia. Fiscal policy could also offset some of the short-term costs of adjustment. Fiscal policy can provide stimulus at relatively small and manageable cost to the already-low government debt to GDP ratio. Moreover, at the current juncture, fiscal policy might need to provide the bulk of policy support against negative shocks, as monetary policy might be ineffective if has become constrained by an effective lower bound on the monetary policy interest rate.
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
This Selected Issues paper estimates the long-run economic impact of Brexit on the United Kingdom under two distinct assumptions for the post-Brexit relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union. These illustrative scenarios entail different degrees of higher trade costs, a more restricted European Union migration regime and reduced foreign inward investment. A standard multicountry and multisector computable general equilibrium model is used to quantify the impact of higher trade barriers. There is substantial sectoral heterogeneity in the impact, and regions with higher concentrations of the more affected sectors are likely to confront greater losses. The empirical analysis suggests the speed of sectoral labor relocation across sectors has been relatively low in the UK. Irrespective of these empirical estimates, policies, such as retraining, would be critical to facilitate faster adjustment of the economy to the post-Brexit equilibrium thereby helping to minimize the associated costs to individuals and in aggregate.
International Monetary Fund. Asia and Pacific Dept
This 2017 Article IV Consultation highlights New Zealand’s economic expansion, which since early 2011 gained further broad-based momentum in 2016. GDP growth accelerated to 4 percent, and the output gap has roughly closed. Reconstruction spending after the 2011 Canterbury earthquake was an important catalyst, but the expansion has also been supported by accommodative monetary policy, a net migration wave, improving services exports, and strong terms of trade. There was some weakening of momentum in the fourth quarter of 2016, owing to softer private consumption and a sharp drop in exports, but it is expected to be temporary. Growth should rebound and then moderate toward trend in the medium term, in particular as net migration normalizes.
Ms. Florence Jaumotte
,
Ksenia Koloskova
, and
Ms. Sweta Chaman Saxena

The recent refugee surge has brought attention to the macro-critical policy issue of migration, including speculations that migration can be an unfavorable phenomenon for the receiving economies. A careful examination of the impact of migration on host economies is thus critical. Focusing on the economic impact, most of the academic discussion has centered on the effect of migration on labor markets and public finances. Much less is known about the long-term impact of immigration on the GDP per capita (or the standard of living) of host economies. This note makes three contributions to estimating this impact: it uses a restricted sample of advanced economies rather than a mixed sample of higher- and lower-income host countries, it examines whether the GDP per capita impact varies for different skill levels of migrants, and it goes beyond the aggregate impact of migration on GDP per capita to examine how broadly gains in this regard are shared across the population. In particular, it examines whether migration impacts the income levels of those both at the top and at the bottom of the earnings distribution, or whether gains are instead concentrated in a small group of high earners. It finds that immigration significantly increases GDP per capita in advanced economies, that both high- and lower-skilled migrants can raise labor productivity, and that an increase in the migrant share benefits the average income per capita of both the bottom 90 percent and the top 10 percent of earners, suggesting the gains from immigration are broadly shared.

International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
This paper aims to provide European Union (EU), while recognizing that the choice of whether to remain in the EU is for U.K. voters to make and that their decisions will reflect both economic and noneconomic factors. The question of EU membership is both a political and an economic issue, and the referendum has sparked a wide-ranging debate on the United Kingdom’s role in the EU. Given the range of plausible alternative arrangements with the EU, the number of channels by which countries could be affected and the range of possible effects on the United Kingdom and other economies are broad.
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
This Selected Issues paper examines migration patterns in Norway and their implications for estimates of potential output. It applies a new methodology proposed by Borio and others (2013) to estimate potential output by drawing on information about immigration and oil price movements. The paper also provides an overview of the recent trend in immigration in Norway and discusses various estimates of potential output using standard approaches. The results indicate that immigration plays a small but statistically significant role in the estimation of potential output for Norway. The data show that immigration inflows into Norway vary across source countries. The largest share of immigrants is from Poland, accounting for 15 percent of the total in 2012. Immigration patterns in Norway contain both cyclical and structural elements, but the latter seems dominant at least for now. Empirical results also suggest that immigration plays some role in determining potential output, however, its impact is quite small, consistent with the view that the recent immigration patterns are structural.
Ms. Aiko Mineshima
and
Mr. Christopher Browne
Remittances are large and have grown substantially over the past decade in the Pacific region. This primarily reflects the impact of emigration due to low growth and limited employment prospects at home. Many Pacific emigrants settle abroad with their families for long periods, but maintain close links with their relatives, villages and churches. The paper finds that the altruistic motive for remittances remains much stronger in the Pacific region than in the rest of Asia, where investment considerations increasingly appear to predominate, especially for the large share of single citizens working abroad for limited periods.
International Monetary Fund. External Relations Dept.
The Economics of Demographics provides a detailed look at how the biggest demographic upheaval in history is affecting global development. The issue explores demographic change and the effects of population aging from a variety of angles, including pensions, health care, financial markets, and migration, and looks specifically at the impact in Europe and Asia. Picture This looks at global demographic trends, while Back to Basics explains the concept of the demographic dividend. Country Focus spotlights Kazakhstan, while People in Economics profiles Nobel prize winner Robert Mundell. IMF Economic Counsellor Raghuram Rajan argues for further change in India's style of government in his column, Straight Talk.
International Monetary Fund. External Relations Dept.
La demografía desde el ángulo económico es un análisis profundo de cómo la explosión demográfica más grande de la historia está afectando el desarrollo mundial. En este número se estudian la evolución demográfica y los efectos del envejecimiento de la población desde distintos puntos de vista —como las pensiones, la salud, los mercados financieros y la inmigración—, y se centra la atención en las repercusiones en Europa y Asia. En Bajo la lupa se observan las tendencias demográficas mundiales, en tanto que en Vuelta a lo esencial se explica el concepto del dividendo demográfico. En Panorama nacional se pasa revista a la situación de Kazajstán, y en Gente del mundo de la Economía se presenta un perfil de Robert Mundell, ganador del Premio Nobel. Por último, en Hablando claro, el Consejero Económico del FMI, Raghuram Rajan, plantea la necesidad de reformar aún más al estilo de gobierno en India.