Nobel laureate economist Milton Friedman once noted that free immigration                  cannot coexist with a welfare state. A welfare state with open borders might turn                  into a haven for poor immigrants, which would place such a fiscal burden on the                  state that native-born voters would support less-generous benefits or restricted                  immigration, or both. And yet a welfare state with an aging population might welcome                  young skilled immigrants. The preferences of the native-born population toward                  migration depend on the skill and age composition of the immigrants, and migration                  policies in a political-economy framework may be tailored accordingly. This book                  examines how social benefits-immigrations political economy conflicts are resolved,                  with an empirical application to data from Europe and the developed countries,                  integrating elements from population, international, public, and political economics                  into a unified static and dynamic framework. Using a static analytical framework to                  examine intra-generational distribution, the authors first focus on the skill                  composition of migrants in both free and restricted immigration policy regimes,                  drawing on empirical research from EU-15 and non-EU-15 states. The authors then                  offer theoretical analyses of similar issues in dynamic overlapping generations                  settings, studying not only intragenerational but also intergenerational aspects,                  including old-young dependency ratios and skilled-unskilled conflicts. Finally, they                  examine overall gains from or costs of migration in both host and source countries                  and the race to the bottom argument of tax competition between states in the                  presence of free migration.

Migration and the Welfare State: Political-Economy Policy Formation PDF

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