Impact of trade liberalization on labor markets and migration in the Maghreb Countries

The issue of the interaction between trade and labor mobility has become a major topic in the context of economic integration and trade liberalization. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the issue of international labor mobility from the standpoint of new developments in trade theory, by asking the following question: does trade liberalization result in the substitution or complementarity between trade in goods and labor mobility? The study builds on the classical theory of international trade and extends so that the conclusion reached in the theory, namely the substitution between international labor mobility and trade, is modified. This current study concludes that there exist a short-term complementarity and that increased integration between countries, including through migration, can benefit workers in developing and developed countries at the same time. Technology and productivity differentials, human capital externalities, social capital describing immigrant links to the home country and most importantly, migration costs help to explain the patterns of complementarity. JEL: O53, J61, and F11