Effects of International Migration on Air Pollution in Developing Countries

The objective of this work is to analyze the effect of international migration on air pollution in a panel of 124 developing countries over the period 1990–2020. Adopting the pollution haven hypothesis as a theoretical framework, we use the IPAT model developed by Ehrlich and Holdren's (1971). We specify and estimate our model in panel data using the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and Fixed Effects (FE) methods. Three results emerge: international migration increases air pollution in developing countries. Industrialization slightly reduces air pollution. And the KEC is not verified in the case of our study. We suggest that developing countries consolidate the framework by integrating the environmental factor into their policies in order to improve the situation of migrants in their respective countries. JEL-Classification: F22, P23, Q53, 011