Interactions between International Migration and International Trade: Positive and Normative Aspects

Abstract: This paper surveys various trade models that can account for either substitution or/and complementary between commodity trade and labor mobility. In the presence of international differences in technologies, commodity trade can exacebrate the pressure for labor migration rather than lessen it, as the Heckscher-Ohlin model suggests. Some relevant asymmetries between capital and labor mobility are examined. A special attention is paid to issues of intra and inter country income redistribution in the presence of migration.