TY - JOUR
T1 - Suppressing Resistance to Low-Skill Migration
AU - Razin, Assaf
AU - Sadka, Efraim
PY - 1996
Y1 - 1996
N2 - Just like any other trade activity, migration tends to generate gains to all parties involved, the migrants as well as the native population, if markets are well-functioning. But typically these gains tend to be rather small. However, when the labor market is mal-functioning, migration may exacerbate the imperfections in the market. Consequently, it could lead to losses to the host-country population, which can be quite sizable. An additional problem raised by migration is the toll it imposes on the welfare state. As a democracy, the host-country cannot exclude migrants from various entitlement programs and public services. As a consequence, the modern welfare state could find it more and more costly to run its various programs when they attract low-income migrants. These considerations may help explain why there is strong resistance to migration. Consequently, to be able to benefit from migration, one may want to improve the functioning of the markets (with a compensation to wage earners that compete with unskilled migrants) and to downsize the scope of the state entitlement programs.
AB - Just like any other trade activity, migration tends to generate gains to all parties involved, the migrants as well as the native population, if markets are well-functioning. But typically these gains tend to be rather small. However, when the labor market is mal-functioning, migration may exacerbate the imperfections in the market. Consequently, it could lead to losses to the host-country population, which can be quite sizable. An additional problem raised by migration is the toll it imposes on the welfare state. As a democracy, the host-country cannot exclude migrants from various entitlement programs and public services. As a consequence, the modern welfare state could find it more and more costly to run its various programs when they attract low-income migrants. These considerations may help explain why there is strong resistance to migration. Consequently, to be able to benefit from migration, one may want to improve the functioning of the markets (with a compensation to wage earners that compete with unskilled migrants) and to downsize the scope of the state entitlement programs.
KW - Human capital
KW - Migration and the welfare state
KW - Rigid wages
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0038627322&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/BF00418953
DO - 10.1007/BF00418953
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AN - SCOPUS:0038627322
SN - 0927-5940
VL - 3
SP - 413
EP - 424
JO - International Tax and Public Finance
JF - International Tax and Public Finance
IS - 3
ER -