Restrictive Immigration Policy in Germany: Pains and Gains Foregone?

48 Pages Posted: 2 Jun 2008

See all articles by Gabriel J. Felbermayr

Gabriel J. Felbermayr

University of Stuttgart-Hohenheim

Wido Geis

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute) - Ifo Institute

Wilhelm Kohler

University of Tuebingen - Department of Economics; CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: May 2008

Abstract

Many European countries restrict immigration from new EU member countries. The rationale is to avoid adverse wage and employment effects. We quantify these effects for Germany. Following Borjas (2003), we estimate a structural model of labor demand, based on elasticities of substitution between workers with different experience levels and education. We allow for unemployment which we model in a price-wage-setting framework. Simulating a counterfactual scenario without restrictions for migration from new EU members countries, we find moderate negative wage effects, combined with increased unemployment for some types of workers. Wage-setting mitigates wage cuts.

Keywords: migration, labor

JEL Classification: F2, J01

Suggested Citation

Felbermayr, Gabriel J. and Geis, Wido and Kohler, Wilhelm K., Restrictive Immigration Policy in Germany: Pains and Gains Foregone? (May 2008). CESifo Working Paper Series No. 2316, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1139781 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1139781

Gabriel J. Felbermayr

University of Stuttgart-Hohenheim ( email )

Keplerstraße 17
D-70174 Stuttgart
Germany

Wido Geis

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute) - Ifo Institute ( email )

Poschingerstr. 5
Munich
Germany

Wilhelm K. Kohler (Contact Author)

University of Tuebingen - Department of Economics ( email )

Mohlstrasse 36
D-72074 Tuebingen, 72074
Germany

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

Poschinger Str. 5
Munich, DE-81679
Germany

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
172
Abstract Views
1,427
Rank
277,211
PlumX Metrics