Migrant and native interaction : labor market and marriage market

Abstract

The more we study the migration phenomenon the more we understand how deep rooted in its understanding is the sentence: countries of destination thought they had let in workers and they discovered instead that they had let in human beings. Much attention is paid to the economic effects of migrants in countries of destination. But relatively little attention is paid to extremely important socio-political and demographic effects. Migration and integration policies are, also, evaluated in economic terms: do migrants increase welfare costs; do they displace native workers; do they favor economic growth etc. European researchers have neglected many key aspects of family-related migration, lagging behind, in this respect, North American and Latin American research (e.g., Boyle 2002; Falicov 2007; Glick 2010). With this policy brief, we would like to point out the multiple effects that foreign workers can have in non-economic areas. In particular, we would like to point out that a policy designed to take care, for instance, of the elderly through foreign labor can have externalities on the marriage market. Hence, a correct evaluation of a policy needs to be more comprehensive and to look at all the implications of a given decision.