Disagreement Over the Immigration of Low-Income Earners in a Welfare State

13 Pages Posted: 6 Jan 2006

See all articles by Yuji Tamura

Yuji Tamura

Department of Accounting, Data Analytics, Economics and Finance, La Trobe University; ANU Centre for Economic Policy Research, Australian National University

Abstract

This paper studies natives' economically motivated preferences over different levels of immigration of low-income earners. Immigration affects natives through both intra- and intergenerational redistribution programmes and in the labour market. Our analysis suggests that, in a welfare state that looks after the poor and the aged, economic motivation does not necessarily lead a native to have an extreme opinion on the level of immigration although it causes disagreement among natives. We show that, regardless of parameter values, high-income earners prefer at least as much immigration as low-income earners who in turn prefer at least as much immigration as pensioners. The median voter is then likely to be a low-income native.

Keywords: immigration, welfare state, natives' preferences

JEL Classification: F22, I38

Suggested Citation

Tamura, Yuji, Disagreement Over the Immigration of Low-Income Earners in a Welfare State. Journal of Population Economics, Vol. 19, No. 4, pp. 691-702, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=874050

Yuji Tamura (Contact Author)

Department of Accounting, Data Analytics, Economics and Finance, La Trobe University ( email )

Melbourne, VIC 3086
Australia

HOME PAGE: http://www.latrobe.edu.au/accounting-data-analytics-economics-and-finance

ANU Centre for Economic Policy Research, Australian National University

Canberra, ACT 2600
Australia

HOME PAGE: http://rse.anu.edu.au/research/centre-economic-policy-research

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