The Changing Structure of Immigration to the OECD: What Welfare Effects on Member Countries?

40 Pages Posted: 27 Jun 2018

See all articles by Michał Burzyński

Michał Burzyński

Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER)

Frédéric Docquier

Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER); Université catholique de Louvain; Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER); CREAM, Centre for Research on Environmental Appraisal & Management, UK; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Hillel Rapoport

Paris School of Economics (PSE)

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: April 24, 2018

Abstract

We investigate the welfare implications of two pre-crisis immigration waves (1991–2000 and 2001–2010) and of the post-crisis wave (2011–2015) for OECD native citizens. To do so, we develop a general equilibrium model that accounts for the main channels of transmission of immigration shocks – the employment and wage effects, the fiscal effect, and the market size effect – and for the interactions between them. We parameterize our model for 20 selected OECD member states. We find that the three waves induce positive effects on the real income of natives, however the size of these gains varies considerably across countries and across skill groups. In relative terms, the post-crisis wave induces smaller welfare gains compared to the previous ones. This is due to the changing origin mix of immigrants, which translates into lower levels of human capital and smaller fiscal gains. However, differences across cohorts explain a tiny fraction of the highly persistent, cross-country heterogeneity in the economic benefits from immigration.

Keywords: immigration, welfare, crisis, inequality, general equilibrium

JEL Classification: C680, F220, J240

Suggested Citation

Burzyński, Michał and Docquier, Frédéric and Docquier, Frédéric and Rapoport, Hillel, The Changing Structure of Immigration to the OECD: What Welfare Effects on Member Countries? (April 24, 2018). CESifo Working Paper Series No. 6992, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3194445 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3194445

Michał Burzyński

Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER) ( email )

Maison des Sciences Humaines
11, Porte des Science
Esch-sur-Alzette/Belval, L-4366
Luxembourg

HOME PAGE: http://https://sites.google.com/site/mpburzynski/

Frédéric Docquier

Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER) ( email )

11, Porte des Sciences
Campus Belval – Maison des Sciences Humaines
Esch-sur-Alzette, L-4366
Luxembourg

Université catholique de Louvain ( email )

IRES
Place Montesquieu 3
Louvain-la-Neuve, 1348
Belgium

HOME PAGE: http://https://perso.uclouvain.be/frederic.docquier/

Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER) ( email )

11, Porte des Sciences
Campus Belval – Maison des Sciences Humaines
Esch-sur-Alzette, L-4366
Luxembourg

CREAM, Centre for Research on Environmental Appraisal & Management, UK

University of Newcastle
NE1 7RU Newcastle Upon Tyne
United States

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Hillel Rapoport (Contact Author)

Paris School of Economics (PSE) ( email )

48 Boulevard Jourdan
Paris, 75014 75014
France

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

Paper statistics

Downloads
68
Abstract Views
520
Rank
509,542
PlumX Metrics