Trade, migration, and economic development: the risks and rewards of openness

This paper argues that openness to migration is heavily dependent upon (1) ideational and institutional factors, especially the willingness of states to guarantee a minimum basket of rights for migrants; (2) domestic political coalitions and alignments that are driven in part by factor proportions and intensities; and (3) the structure of the international system, including the presence or absence of international regimes. In contrast to transnational or globalization arguments about the weakening of state sovereignty, this paper offers evidence in support of a neoliberal argument that stresses the role of institutions and rights, but without abandoning the central precepts of realist theory. Realist theory asserts that states are unitary rational actors and will pursue their interests within the confines of an international system structured by anarchy and distribution of power. Finally, the paper proposes a model of strategic interaction to specify the conditions under which (developed and developing)states will risk migration.