The protrade effect of immigrants on the bilateral export performance of the 50 American states and the District of Columbia with respect to 87 foreign countries is studied. This effect, which posits that a greater number of immigrants in a host location leads to increased trade between the host and the immigrants' origin country, has been supported in a number of studies. Here, we extend this approach and find that the immigrant effect is greater when the origin country's political system is more corrupt and less important when Spanish or English is the language of the origin country. State-level export data averaged over the 1990–1992 period are used.

James A. Dunlevy, A Test of the Capacity Pressure Hypothesis Within a Simultaneous Equations Model of Export Performance, The Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 62, No. 1 (Feb., 1980), pp. 131-135

James A. Dunlevy, Don Bellante, Net Migration, Endogenous Incomes and the Speed of Adjustment to the North-South Differential, The Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 65, No. 1 (Feb., 1983), pp. 66-75

The perspicacious peregrinator model of Solomon W. Polachek and Francis W. Horvath hypothesizes that individuals decide to migrate based on the size of potential gains. This model is tested using themigration decisions of Major League Baseball players between 1977 and1979. Potential gains are measure d as the differ-ence between earnings with and without migration. A distinction is made between players eligible for free agency and those ineligible so as to a ccount for differences in the level of competition for players' services in diff erent segments of this market. Migration is found tobe related to the expected gain from earnings for players eligible for free agency, but not for those ineli gible.

James A. Dunlevy, Henry A. Gemery, The Role of Migrant Stock and Lagged Migration in the Settlement Patterns of Nineteenth Century Immigrants, The Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 59, No. 2 (May, 1977), pp. 137-144