From Policy to Practice: The Influence of Institutional Quality on the Management of Migration in Africa

This study assesses the extent to which institutional quality affects international migration in Africa, using a panel data of 44 countries within the time period of 2000 to 2020. The new economics of labour migration theory and the new institutional economics theory were mobilized. Through the adoption of the principal component analysis, the institutional quality index variable was obtained by the joint combination of the six institutional quality measures including; voice and accountability, political stability, rule of law, control of corruption, government effectiveness and regulatory quality. The study employed the use of the generalized methods of moments estimation technique to investigate the relationship between institutional quality and international migration in Africa. Findings show that government effectiveness, political stability, regulatory quality and the institutional quality index have positive significant correlation with international migration in Africa; the control variables including carbon-dioxide emissions, infrastructure, unemployment, inflation, population growth, total natural resource rents, trade openness and gross fixed capital formation all record positive and negative significant correlations international migration and these results were robust to those analysed by use of the simultaneous quantile regression and the Driscoll and Kraay standard errors estimation techniques. The study therefore, recommends that the governing organs of the nations in the African Continent should endeavour to stimulate cooperation, develop concrete political policies regarding immigration and co-development through effectively ensuring the adoption of strong natured institutions that embark on sustainably adhering to equitable reduction in corruption practices, political instabilities and full government effectiveness in every sector of the nations.