Department of Economics

ECN 410: Economics of Migration

Spring 2025

Course overview

Migration is and has been an important phenomenon in the U.S. and throughout the world. This course will provide students with an overview of the different types of migration, important past and current episodes of migration, and policies dealing with migration. The course will also apply the tools of economics to understand several aspects of migration including: its determinants, its effects on source and destination regions, and the intended and unintended consequences of migration policy.

We will begin by discussing international migration. We will discuss why people migrate to other countries, where they come from, and where they go, and why they go there. We will also study how migration impacts the places migrants leave and the places where they arrive. Understanding the research documenting these consequences will help us as we later evaluate past and current immigration policies in the U.S.

We have 14 weeks to cover a great deal of material. It is important you stay on top of the readings, problem sets, and quizzes. I also encourage students to take advantage of my office hours to review material.

Course objectives

. Explain basic facts about important past and current episodes of migration

. Understand methods and results for research on different aspects of migration

. Evaluate policies dealing with migration

. Develop analytical writing skills through the format of policy briefs

Background and prerequisites

This course is primarily aimed at students who have completed the intro (ECN 101 and 102) and intermediate micro and macro sequences (ECN 301 and ECN 302). This background will be helpful when we discuss models of migrant selection and the labor market impacts of migration. Familiarity with regression analysis will also be useful as we delve into the empirical strategies researchers employ to identify causal effects. I want to stress that students will not be expected to fully understand the methodological details. Instead, we will focus on understanding the basic intuition behind these strategies and how they may (or may not) provide reliable estimates of the causal effects of some policy, phenomena, or intervention.

Readings

The required textbook for this course is:

Cynthia Bansak, Nicole Simpson, and Madeline Zavodny (2021). The Economics of Immigration, 2nd Edition This textbook is available online through Syracuse University Libraries.

There are also required articles (see tentative dates for those readings in the course outline below). All these articles have links or can be accessed through the Syracuse University Libraries website. Generally, you can access academic articles when connected to SU’s Wi-Fi network. Please let me know if you have any issue accessing these articles.

The schedule for the readings can be found in the course calendar below.

It is strongly recommended that you read the readings each week before class to have some familiarity with the concepts to be discussed. Quizzes can cover topics covered in lecture and in assigned readings.

Evaluation

● Problem sets (10%)

○   Four problems sets will be assigned and will include a mixture of quantitative problems, short answer questions, and reading responses. The due dates for these four problem sets are available in the “ECN 410 Important Dates and Deadlines” document on Blackboard.

○   The problem sets will be posted on Blackboard in the “Problem Sets” folder. You will upload completed problem sets to our course Blackboard.

○   Homework is graded based on completeness. I encourage you to work with other students on your problem sets, but all explanations must be in your own words and fully show how you reached your answer. If you turn in a problem set that is too similar to another student’s work, you will both receive zeros.

○   Grades are assigned on a scale of 0 to 10. Homework submitted after the deadline will be considered late. Late submissions will incur a deduction of two points for every 24-hour period following the deadline, with the minimum achievable score set at 0.

● Quizzes (15%)

○   We will have 7 quizzes. The tentative dates for these quizzes are available in the “ECN 410 Important Dates and Deadlines” document on Blackboard.

○   Quizzes will take place during the first 15 minutes of class and will cover material from the previous lectures. These quizzes are not meant to be difficult or cause you any significant stress but instead should serve to keep up with recent material.

○   Each quiz will be worth 10 points. I will drop the student’s lowest quiz score at the end of the semester.

● Migration Policy Project (30%)

○   At the end of the second week of class, you and a small group of students will choose a bilateral migration channel (I can also assign you a channel). With this group, you will be responsible for writing one short policy brief and one longer, more polished policy brief about your migration channel.

○   The first policy brief will address who migrates, why they migrate, and what they do in the destination country. It will also examine the effects of migration on the migrant-origin country and/or the destination country. The first policy brief is due Wednesday, March 26th.

○   Each group will record a 15-minute presentation via Zoom which educates the class about your assigned migration channel, drawing on the findings from your first policy brief. Additionally,  you will "pitch" a policy recommendation for either the migrant-origin country, the migrant-destination country, or both, addressing the key issues you have identified. You are to upload    your group’s recording to Blackboard by April 9th. We will provide further instructions on Blackboard. After the presentation, you will receive feedback from your peers, which can be incorporated into your final policy brief.

○   Your final brief will polish the analysis from your first brief and will also incorporate your policy recommendation. I will provide further details of the assignment and a grading rubric on Blackboard. The final brief is due Monday, April 21st.

● Midterm (20%)

○   The midterm is currently scheduled for Thursday, March 6th  during class.

● Final (20%)

○   The final is currently scheduled for Friday, May 2nd from 8:00 to 10:00am. The final exam date and time is scheduled by the registrar.

● Participation (5%)

○   Students that ask questions and participate actively in the in-class activities throughout the term will receive higher grades in this category.

○   Attendance will be taken throughout the semester and will be incorporated into your participation score. That being said, I do not want anyone to come to class if they are not feeling well. Please reach out to the Barnes Center and Student Outreach and Support to have your absence excused.

●   Letter breakdowns: A=94-100, A-=90-93, B+=87-89, B=84-86, B-=80-83, C+=77-79, C=74-76, C-=70- 73, D=60-69, F=<60