Free vs. Restricted Immigration: Bilateral Country Study
40 Pages Posted: 7 Mar 2011
Abstract
This paper tests the differential effects of the generosity of the welfare state under free migration and under policy-controlled migration, distinguishing between source developing and developed countries. We utilize free-movement within the EU to examine the free migration regime and compare that to immigration into the EU from two other groups, developed and developing source countries, to capture immigration-restricted regimes. We standardize cross-country education quality differences by using the Hanushek-Woessmann (2009) cognitive skills measure. We find strong support for the "magnet hypothesis" under the free-migration regime, and the "fiscal burden hypothesis" under the immigration-restricted regime even after controlling for differences in returns to skills in source and host countries.
Keywords: migration, welfare state, EU
JEL Classification: J61, J48
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
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