Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/58518 
Year of Publication: 
2011
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 6075
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
The paper studies the impact of unemployment benefits on immigration. A sample of 19 European countries observed over the period 1993-2008 is used to test the hypothesis that unemployment benefit spending (UBS) is correlated with immigration flows from EU and non-EU origins. While OLS estimates reveal the existence of a moderate correlation for non-EU immigrants only, IV and GMM techniques used to address endogeneity issues yield, respectively, a much smaller and an essentially zero causal impact of UBS on immigration. All estimates for immigrants from EU origins indicate that flows within the EU are not related to unemployment benefit generosity. This suggests that the so-called welfare migration debate is misguided and not based on empirical evidence.
Subjects: 
immigration
unemployment benefit spending
welfare magnets
European Union
JEL: 
H53
J61
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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