The International Mobility of Billionaires

This paper uses data from Forbes Magazine’s list of billionaires, supplemented with other publicly available information, to study the migratory behavior of the very rich. Billionaires are more likely to move to countries that share a language and a culture with their country of birth and to countries with larger markets, higher incomes, and lower capital taxes. In total, only 15 % of self-made billionaires—almost all of whom are entrepreneurs—migrated to another country. One explanation for the modest rate of migration may be the country-specificity of entrepreneurs’ human capital. Eight out of ten migrants select a destination country with higher per capita income than that of their birth country, and seven out of ten move to a country with lower capital taxes.