The Relationship Between International Migration Flows and International Trade: An Application for Turkey

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International economics literature shows that the migration flows among two countries also increases the bilateral trade flows. There are two main reasons of these: Firstly, the migrants establish business and social networks in the host country and thereby lower the transaction costs. Secondly, the migrants’ preferences for home country products tends to increase the trade flows. The aim of this study is to analyze the relationship between international labor movements and international trade for the Turkish case. However, this study does not analyze the effects of migration on trade flows, but it focuses on the effects of migration on intra-industry trade. The reason is that, migration flows might have different effects on different product groups. This study includes the 20 countries which host the majority of the Turkish migrants and covers the 1985-2010 period. The findings of the study reveal that, international labor movements decrease the intra-industry trade index of Turkey, and this finding doesn’t support the theoretical expectations.

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International migration , intra , industry trade , Turkey.

Ege Academic Review (EAR)

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Ege Academic Review (EAR)