Global Security and Sustainability

Global Migration and Human Mobility

While migration is an age-old phenomenon, its current scale and particular characteristics make it an issue of rising global concern at the outset of the 21st century.  Immigration into the United States and Western Europe is part of a global system of population movement.  Worldwide, some 200 million people are now living outside their country of origin.   Today’s migrants use contemporary transportation and communication technologies to maintain strong home country ties; these same technologies encourage the back-and-forth movements of “circular migration.”  Migration is spurred by economic opportunity, political turmoil, family reunification, war, and environmental crisis.  Flows of migrants have profound economic, security, social, and cultural effects in countries of origin, transit, and destination.  While globalization has led to lowered barriers to the international movement of goods and capital, the movement of people is still officially subject to tight controls.

From the Field White House Council on Economic Advisors Cites Grantee Research A report issued by the White House's Council on Economic Advisors on June 20 entitled "Immigration's Economic Impact" cited research by MacArthur grantee and economist Giovanni Peri at University of California, Davis. Peri's work helped demonstrate the numerous benefits of immigration for the US economy. Dr. Peri is developing novel ways to estimate the economic benefits of migration, including measuring migrants' impacts on innovation, the cost of services, complementarities with US workers, and incentives for natives to upgrade their skills.