Skills and the Pattern of Migration: The Role of Qualitative and Quantitative Restrictions on International Labor Mobility.

This paper develops a two-country model of international migration in an attempt to study the role of both qualitative and quantitative restrictions on international labor mobility. Individuals are distinguished in terms of their ability and age, enabling the model to examine factors that influence the age and skill profile of those who migrate, as well as the equilibrium flow of migrants and the pattern of factor rewards in the two economies. Effects of changes in certain parameters of the model are related to the nature of the immigration policy enforced by the host country. The role of emigration restrictions is also considered. Copyright 1989 by Economics Department of the University of Pennsylvania and the Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association.