Free vs. Controlled Migration: Bilateral Country Study / Assaf Razin, Jackline Wahba.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Razin, Assaf.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Wahba, Jackline.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w16831.

NBER working paper series no. w16831

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Free vs. Controlled Migration

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2011.

Summary:

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. We also find a significant differences across host-country policy regimes in the effects of returns to skills on the skill mix of immigrants.

Notes:

Print version record

February 2011.