Cultural and institutional barriers in migration between OECD countries Michèle Belot1 Department of Economics University of Essex Sjef Ederveen2 CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis One of the basic principles of the European Union and the European Economic Area is the freedom of movement of workers. In practice, migration between EU countries is extremely low. One attractive explanation for the low mobility pattern in Europe is the existence of cultural and institutional barriers to migration. Even if in principle workers are free to move, they are in practice confronted with a series of obstacles hampering their movement. Linguistic and cultural differences, housing transaction costs and a lack of portability of pension rights across countries are all potential obstacles to migration. Our study uses a unique set of new indicators enabling us to test the effects of cultural and institutional barriers on migration between OECD countries. We use data for 22 OECD countries, covering the period 1990-2003. Our results provide strong evidence for the negative effect of cultural differences and institutional obstacles on migration flows between countries. Theme: Migration Keywords: International migration, Culture, Institutions, European Union JEL classifications: J61, F22, O15, Z1 1 University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester CO4 3SQ, United Kingdom, e-mail:
[email protected] 2 CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis, Postbus 80510, 2508 GM The Hague, The Netherlands, e-mail:
[email protected] 1 1 Introduction One of the basic principles of the European Union and the European Economic Area is the freedom of movement of factors of production and, in particular, of workers.