Timothy Taylor at the Conversable Economist shed a nice warm light on a model the World Bank used in their most recent World Development Report (WDR) Migrants, Refugees, and Societies.
The World Bank suggests that one framework for thinking about these issues from the standpoint of the receiving country is the “match-motive matrix.” When immigrants are a good match for pre-existing needs in the receiving country and, the receiving country as a whole will gain. When the match is poor, as when the migrants do not have skills needed in the receiving country and perhaps are refugees seeking only to escape persecution, then the costs for the receiving country may exceed the benefits.
First, the model looks at groupings by what the migrants have to offer and what their lives will demand. Then the model suggests a type of dual consciousness, one that includes the consideration of the private skills the people can bring, such as caregiving for example. And includes a recognition of a need to match groups with a host country with the capacity of an appropriate level of protection, for example.
The Consumer Price Index report also came out today. In contrast, you will note that this index isn’t about grouping people but about grouping commodities and their prices. Is it more important to know what things cost or which groups of people interact with those prices? Most people are looked at in groups of income: poverty level, lower middle class, middle class, and so on. But some low-wage individuals are students and will soon become middle class; there are low-wage seniors who are actually very wealthy in terms of assets; there are many more interesting groups of people than a linear representation of income would indicate.
Tim Taylor seems to recognize this as well as he asks the most excellent question: Isn’t this a grouping model one we could use across society?
Here, I’ll just close with a broader theme: rules about migration are in many ways similar to rules that affect society as a whole. For example, how can we support children from families with low incomes and limited educational background to realize their potential as adults contributing to society? How do we support people of diverse backgrounds in living side by side?
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