Trade and migration flows between some CEE countries and the UK

The recent enlargement of the European Union [EU] has enhanced interest in the causes and consequences of migration between Central and Eastern European [CEE] and Western European countries. This paper considers immigration from CEE countries into the UK and the consequences for these countries' trade with the UK. Using a panel of data covering selected CEE countries between 1996 and 2003, we employ an augmented gravity model to examine the effects of immigration from these transition countries on trade flows with the UK. We pay attention to a number of issues that have been raised within the literature on gravity models. We find evidence that migration positively enhances the bi-lateral exports of the migrants' home country; there is less (but some) evidence that the imports from their destination country are also enhanced.