Selim Cagatay, professor at Centre for Economics Research on Mediterranean Countries Akdeniz Uni, Antalya, Turkey, is team leader and coordinator of the new Femise report FEM 34-30. He accepted to talk about main outcomes of the report : « Analyzing the Immigration-Induced Changes in Product Diversity and Trade Patterns: The Case of the EU-Mediterranean-Eastern Europe Zone”.
Does migration stimulates trade between host country and the country of origin?
“The immigrant-trade relationship operates through two broad channels. First, migrants are expected to stimulate trade by lowering transaction costs. This is because immigrants have superior knowledge of home country markets, languages, business practices, laws and other matters related to trade. This channel has been referred to as the “information bridge hypothesis”. Immigrants may arrive with established connections to home country business networks. They also might find that certain goods they are used to consuming in their home country are not available in the host country, and boost imports of such commodities. These immigrant preference effects have been referred to as “transplanted home bias” effect.
Immigrants also may create significant demand for such goods. So we may eventually see some immigration-triggered changes in consumption and production patterns, especially in countries receiving sufficiently large numbers of foreign-born persons.”
Is there are more products exported and if so, which? What are the main sectors?
“Total migration to the EU has a positive impact on exports of beverages, food and live animals and machinery and transport equipment, immigrants of Eastern European countries observed to boost exports in crude materials and chiefly classified manufacturing only.”
Migratory norms may develop in a future European common migratory policy
What changes do you recommend in European migration policies?
“Concerning the emergence of a EU’s common migratory policy, the study’s main conclusion can be that application by Member States of EU migratory norms may develop in a future European common migratory policy. Some recent steps in that matter both point to this trend and reinforce the emphasis on control at the expense of not even mention integration policies. Other main conclusion, that perhaps the catalyser for a EU’s common migratory policy are control and repatriation measures, but that such a securitization is not consistent with socio-demographic trends.”
What is the impact of the arrivals of migrants from Eastern Europe on the western economies?
“Immigrants of Eastern European countries observed to boost exports in crude materials and chiefly classified manufacturing only. They have positive effects on imports of beverages, of machinery, transport equipment and manufacturing industries. The rise in imports of food and live animals might be particularly due to rising demand of the immigrants from their home countries. The rise in imports of the machinery and transport equipment might be due to unqualified immigrant labor force that is unable to find employment opportunity in these industries in the EU.”
Article by Nathalie Bureau du Colombier, Econostrum. www.econostrum.info. Registration for the Econostrum newsletter: http://www.econostrum.info/subscription/