S4 Ep2: The returns to migration

Recorded at the 2025 annual conference of the Structural Transformation and Economic Growth Programme, held at the University of Oxford.Why do people migrate to cities? Alternatively, if you have read the research on the large financial benefits of migration, you might wonder: if those estimates are correct, why doesn’t everyone migrate to a city? New research by Marieke Kleemans of the University of Illinois and her co-authors attempts to untangle this complex question. She tells Tim Phillips how their detective work shines a new light on the unequal benefits of migration for the people who do make the journey, and even suggests how much those who stay behind would benefit from moving to a city as well.