Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: McKenzie, David
Author-Email: dmckenzie@worldbank.org
Author-Workplace-Name: World Bank, CEPR, and IZA
Author-Name: Siegel, Melissa
Author-Email: siegel@merit.unu.edu
Author-Workplace-Name: UNU-MERIT/MGSoG, Maastricht University
Title: Eliciting illegal migration rates through list randomization
Abstract: Most migration surveys do not ask about the legal status of migrants due 
	 to concerns about the sensitivity of this question. List randomization 
	 is a technique that has been used in a number of other social science 
	 applications to elicit sensitive information. We trial this technique by 
	 adding it to surveys conducted in Ethiopia, Mexico, Morocco and the 
	 Philippines. We show how, in principle, this can be used to both give an 
	 estimate of the overall rate of illegal migration in the population 
	 being surveyed, as well as to determine illegal migration rates for 
	 subgroups such as more or less educated households. Our results suggest 
	 that there is some indication in this method: we find higher rates of 
	 illegal migration in countries where illegal migration is thought to be 
	 more prevalent and households who say they have a migrant are more 
	 likely to report having an illegal migrant. Nevertheless, some of our 
	 other findings also suggest some possible inconsistencies or noise in 
	 the conclusions obtained using this method, so we suggest directions for 
	 future attempts to implement this approach in migration surveys.     
Classification-JEL: F22, C83, J61, K42
Keywords: migration, illegal migration, research methods, list randomization,
	 item count method, survey techniques, surveys
Series: UNU-MERIT Working Papers
Creation-Date: 2013
Number: 023
File-URL: http://www.merit.unu.edu/publications/wppdf/2013/wp2013-023.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Size: 275 Kb
Handle: RePEc:unm:unumer:2013023