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John Gibson

Visiting Fellow

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John Gibson is a Visiting Fellow at CGD and a Professor of Economics at the Waikato Management School, New Zealand. Prior to this, Gibson was Professor and Chair of the Department of Economics at the University of Canterbury, and also taught at the Center for Development Economics at Williams College. He received his Ph. D. from the Food Research Institute of Stanford University. His teaching and research are in microeconometrics, the design and analysis of household survey data, migration, and economic development, especially in China and other Asian and Pacific economies. At CGD he is carrying out research on the effects of skilled migration on sending countries.

In 2008, Professor Gibson was given the prestigious Economics Award of the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research, for “outstanding contributions to the advancement of economics” and to “the understanding of academics, advisers, the public and students”.

Newest Popular CGD Publications Events Multimedia Selected Works

The Microeconomic Determinants of Emigration and Return Migration - Working Paper 173 - May 28, 2009

CGD visiting fellow John Gibson and David McKenzie investigate the economic determinants behind decisions to migrate and decisions to return home. Using Pacific island countries as case studies, they find that expected gains in income may not be as influential as other expectations and preferences.

The Microeconomic Determinants of Emigration and Return Migration - Working Paper 173 - May 28, 2009

CGD visiting fellow John Gibson and David McKenzie investigate the economic determinants behind decisions to migrate and decisions to return home. Using Pacific island countries as case studies, they find that expected gains in income may not be as influential as other expectations and preferences.

The Microeconomic Determinants of Emigration and Return Migration - Working Paper 173 - May 28, 2009
CGD visiting fellow John Gibson and David McKenzie investigate the economic determinants behind decisions to migrate and decisions to return home. Using Pacific island countries as case studies, they find that expected gains in income may not be as influential as other expectations and preferences.

Is the Occupational Cost of Migration Understated? Evidence from a Migration Lottery - Jan 8, 2010
Abstract: A large literature examines the occupational mobility of immigrants and the potential underuse of their human capital in destination countries. Immigrants typically experience a U-shape pattern of occupational change, from their last job in the origin country to their first and then subsequent jobs in the destination country. Many never re-attain the same occupational status of their last job in the origin country. Yet such studies may understate the occupational cost of migrating since the last job in the origin country is not the correct counterfactual; immigrants may have experienced occupational change even if they had never migrated. In this paper, we use a migration lottery to see if bias results from use of this counterfactual. A unique longitudinal survey designed by the authors compares occupational change for migrants who enter New Zealand through a random ballot with occupational change for similar workers in the home country of Tonga who were unsuccessful participants in the same ballots. (Joint work with David McKenzie and Steven Stillman)
- Migration and Development

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