Migration Policy Centre - MPC

At least since the large movements of refugees and other migrants to the EU in 2015, many policymakers see the scaling-up of foreign aid as a key instrument to significantly reduce emigration from lower-income countries. Several recent studies focused on the impact of foreign aid on emigrant flows and found that the rise in aid that would translate into a sizeable reduction of emigration appears to be unrealistically high. However, those contributions mostly refer to international & legal flows, while the effect of foreign assistance on other types of migrants – such as asylum seekers and internal migrants – remained relatively unexplored. This webinar brings together international scholars who have contributed to the academic debate about the foreign aid-migration link, with a view to comparing and assessing the latest research findings. In particular, two new important dimensions of the aid-migration debate will be addressed: (a) the effect of foreign aid on illegal crossings and (b) role of aid projects as a driver of internal migration in developing countries.

 
Speakers:
 

• – Paul Clist, Lecturer in Development Economics, School of International Development, UEA
• – Sarah Langlotz, Assistant Professor, Chair of Development Economics, University of Goettingen, tbc
• – Mauro Lanati, Research Fellow, MPC, RSCAS, EUI

 
Chair:
 

• – Professor Martin Ruhs, MPC, RSCAS, EUI