Public service delivery, corruption and inequality: Key factors driving migration from north Africa to the developed world
- Journal of Social and Economic Development
- 22(2), Dec, 2020: p.328-354
The present paper aims: on the one hand, to investigate the impact of public service delivery, corruption and inequality on North African migration to developed countries; and on the other hand, to zoom in on the role of education and good governance in mitigating migration flows from North African countries (Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia) over the period 1996–2015, by using pooled OLS regression, fixed-effect and random effect models. The main findings indicate that higher inequality is expected to stimulate migration from North Africa to the developed world. The results also show that enhancing government effectiveness and widening access to good-quality basic services negatively influence North African people’s migration decisions. In fact, rampant inequality and failure to scale up public service delivery bring about a worsening of living conditions and serve as repellent factors in North African sending countries. Furthermore, political stability and control of corruption tend to negatively affect North African migration to developed countries. To sum up, enhancing North African countries’ governance capabilities, alleviating inequality, ensuring broad access to high-quality public services, and cracking down on corruption, will undoubtedly bring tangible benefits, open up more opportunities for people and reduce incentives for migration. – Reproduced
Migration, Public service delivery, Inequality, Governance, North Africa