Wage Inequality and Immigration: Western-Europe in the Sixties

23 Pages Posted: 8 Jun 2013

See all articles by Nathalie Chusseau

Nathalie Chusseau

University of Lille I - EQUIPPE; MESHS-CNRS

Michel Dumont

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Joël Hellier

LEM-CNRS (UMR 9221)

Glenn Rayp

Ghent University - Department of General Economics

Peter Willemé

University of Antwerp - Faculty of Applied Economics

Date Written: June 1, 2007

Abstract

We analyse the immigration flows to Western Europe in the sixties. We develop a theoretical model tailored to account for some of the key features of this period, i.e., trade in manufacturing that essentially involved advanced countries, the growing administration of labour markets in Western Europe and the huge inflow of low skilled immigrants from the South (less advanced countries) into Western Europe. Two propositions are subsequently derived from this model. First, the immigration flow increases with the skill premium in the country of destination. Second, for a given skill premium, immigration is an increasing function of both the host country’s working population and its relative endowment in skilled labour. The first proposition reflects a demand side effect that diverges from the result of the traditional self-selecting approach to migration, i.e., that a higher skill premium in the country of destination tends to discourage potential low-skilled migrants. Estimations implemented for a panel of four European countries (Belgium, France, Sweden and West Germany) over the period 1960-1975 corroborate to a large extent our propositions. We also find that none of the supply determinants are individually significant at equilibrium. These results confirm the hypothesis that immigration to Western Europe in the sixties was primarily demand driven.

Keywords: Immigration, International Divi sion of Labour, Wage Inequality

JEL Classification: F22, J31

Suggested Citation

Chusseau, Nathalie and Dumont, Michel and Hellier, Joël and Rayp, Glenn and Willemé, Peter, Wage Inequality and Immigration: Western-Europe in the Sixties (June 1, 2007). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2276463 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2276463

Nathalie Chusseau (Contact Author)

University of Lille I - EQUIPPE ( email )

Université Lille 1 Sciences et Technologies
Faculté des Sciences Economiques et Sociales
Villeneuve d'Ascq, 59655
France

MESHS-CNRS ( email )

2 Rue des Canonniers
Lille, 59000
France

Michel Dumont

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Joël Hellier

LEM-CNRS (UMR 9221) ( email )

104, avenue du peuple Belge
Villeneuve d'Ascq Cedex, 59655
France

Glenn Rayp

Ghent University - Department of General Economics ( email )

Hoveniersberg 24
Ghent, 9000
Belgium
32-9-2643495 (Phone)

Peter Willemé

University of Antwerp - Faculty of Applied Economics ( email )

Prinsstraat 13
Antwerp, 2000
Belgium

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