There is growing interest in the United States and elsewhere in the use of a points-based system for selecting immigrants on the basis of their observed human capital. This paper explores the design of an optimal skills-based immigrant selection system based on two basic elements: a...

There is growing international interest in a Canadian-style points system for selecting economic immigrants. Although existing points systems are influenced by the human capital literature, the findings have traditionally been incorporated in an ad hoc way. This paper explores a formal method...