Abstract.Day1.Mejia

Mexico-U.S. Migration: Assessing the Benefits and Costs for Mexico

Iván Mejía-Guevara and Alma Vega

There has long been interest in understanding the effects of Mexican immigration to the U.S., but less attention has been given to the impacts on Mexico, with most studies focusing primarily on remittances. This study takes a broader approach by using National Transfer Accounts (NTA) methods to assess the economic effects of emigration on Mexico. We consider not only the loss of emigrant labor income and assets, but also the savings associated with not having to fund the consumption of emigrants or provide for their welfare. Additionally, we introduce a novel method for quantifying the losses Mexico incurs from investing in the health and education of individuals who will eventually emigrate. in light of recent constitutional reforms to public cash transfer systems and the significant increase in remittances over the past eight years, we also evaluate the combined impact of both transfers on migrant families.