The Impact of the Global Financial Crisis on International Migration

Economic and financial crises never fail to impact international migration patterns, processes, and policies. The Great Depression (1929-33) resulted in massive repatriations of Latin Americans from the United States and the introduction of highly restrictive immigration policies in a number of industrialized countries, including France and Canada.1,2 The Oil Crisis (1973) resulted in severe restrictionson labor migration, a concomitant growth in asylum applications and irregular migration in Europe, and the emergence of new flows of labor migration to new industrial centers in Asia and Latin America.3 As a result of the Asian financial crisis (1997-99), several Sotheast Asian countries introduced policies of national preference and sought to expel migrant workers.4 The Russian financial crisis (1998) accelerated rates of emigration from Russia, in particular of Russian Jews and the highly-skilled.5 The gravity of the Latin American financial crisis (1998-2002) also resulted in a significant exodus, in particular from Argentina.