Can foreign aid reduce irregular migration? Over the last years, Europe and the US have poured billions into foreign aid that was specifically aimed at reducing “root causes” of irregular migration. The evidence base fr this is at best limited. That’s why we wrote a new paper. #EconSky🧵

"Can we reduce the need for our primary method of maintaining global inequality (migration restrictions; keeping people in low-wage economies at gunpoint) by sending aid to make things a tiny bit less unequal so that poor people will stay put—and poorer than us—voluntarily?" Sure, I guess so...

In a nutshell, we find that aid impacts potential migrants’ aspirations and capabilities differently. In the short term, aid can reduce migration aspirations, but in the longer term, it could enhance the capability to migrate. Let's unpack these findings.