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On May 25th, the Economic Policy Program hosted a workshop on migration and development that marked the beginning of the new migration initiative within the Economics Program and examined in detail the economic and social impacts of migration for sending countries, evaluated how new migration initiatives can better utilize the flow of remittances and the knowledge and skills of the diaspora network, and discussed how sending and receiving countries can increase their cooperation in order to ensure that both sides can benefit from the opportunities international migration has to offer. In order to touch upon the various aspects and challenges of international migration, we invited experts to talk about the situation in four different countries – Ghana, Mali, El Salvador, and Mexico – and discuss what kind of policy initiatives are necessary to better manage and take advantage of the increasing migration flows.   Peter Quartey, Research Fellow at the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research at the University of Ghana, pointed out that the situation in Ghana is mainly characterized by the outflow of highly-skilled labor from the education and health sector. Due to poor working conditions and huge wage disparities between Ghana and various host countries, more and more health personnel is leaving the country, and consequently, nurse and doctor vacancy rates in Ghana already doubled between 1998 and 2002. The Ghanaian government has initiated policies like the payment of ‘Additional Duty Hourly Allowances’ and financial incentive packages in order to stop the outflow of doctors, but is also trying to reap some of the positive effects of migration by encouraging emigrants to return to Ghana, taking advantage of the skills these migrants acquired in their host countries and thus turning ‘brain drain’ into ‘brain gain.’   Agustin Escobar Latapi, Professor at CIESAS Occidente in Guadalajara, provided the audience with a very detailed insight into the underlying factors influencing migration flows between Mexico and the U.S. As he pointed out, the implementation of NAFTA in 1994 improved economic relations between the two countries significantly. However, the trade agreement has not – as expected – contributed to a decrease in migration flows. On the contrary, migration has surged in the last decade due to various push and pull factors like the restructuring of the economy, streamlining of private and public employment, and moving jobs from one industry in Mexico as well as the high demand for low-skilled workers in the U.S. will make a reduction of migration flows from Mexico to the U.S. unlikely in the near future. In order to decrease migration flows in the long run, Escobar stressed that the Mexican government has to promote the creation of more formal jobs and self-employed jobs with a high investment and new temporary worker programs have to be created that address the supply and demand challenges. Moreover, he urged the Mexican government to increase the development impact of remittances through the creation of more matching-fund programs like the 3:1 program, which leverages three dollars from municipal, state, and federal governments for every dollar migrant organizations contribute to a public fund in their hometowns.   Flore Gubert, Researcher at IRD-Paris, DIAL, focused on the Kayes area in Mali – an area that is characterized by a long history of outward migration to France and in which 40.1 percent of families rely on remittances as the most important source of income. However these remittances often do not generate more economic development but are actually regarded as a moral hazard since they generate rent-seeking behavior and encourage families to rely on migrants for their livelihood. Migrant associations in France have been trying to improve the living standards of those who stay behind and promote a more effective use of remittances by actively playing a role in setting up and financing development projects in the villages back home. However, due to an often unstable economic and institutional environment as well as bad infrastructure and poor weather conditions many of these projects are not sustainable yet.   Katharine Andrade Eekhoff, Technical and Academic Consultant, United Nations Development Program in El Salvador, approached the issue of international migration from a different angle and focused her presentation on the importance of the Diaspora for the sending country.. Migrants account for more than 20 percent of El Salvador’s population and include 39.5 percent of Salvadorans with a university degree. Many migrants have been very successful in taking advantage of better opportunities in their host country, and – if counted as part of El Salvador’s population – have actually contributed to an increase of the national GDP from $15,824 million to $37,781 million. Strengthening ties with Salvadoran migrants and create a new sense of ‘Salvadoran-ness’ therefore offers a unique opportunity for El Salvador to achieve higher levels of development.   The four case studies triggered a very debate among the very diverse group of participants and highlighted the need for improved policy coherence among sending and host countries in order to coordinate migration flows. Moreover it became obvious that only an improved infrastructure and investment climate in sending countries can increase the development impact of remittances and encourage members of the diaspora to invest in their home country.   Click here for a list of participants