Open Access
Free movement versus European welfare states? : variations of the fiscal effects of EU migrants across welfare state regimes
Loading...
Files
Free_movement_2024.pdf (795.15 KB)
Full-text in Open Access, Published version
License
Attribution 4.0 International
Access Rights
Cadmus Permanent Link
Full-text via DOI
ISBN
ISSN
0032-3292; 1552-7514
Issue Date
Type of Publication
Keyword(s)
LC Subject Heading
Other Topic(s)
EUI Research Cluster(s)
Initial version
Published version
Succeeding version
Preceding version
Published version part
Earlier different version
Initial format
Author(s)
Citation
Politics & society, 2024, Vol. 52, No. 3, pp. 376-408
[Migration Policy Centre]
Cite
ÖSTERMAN, Marcus, PALME, Joakim, RUHS, Martin, Free movement versus European welfare states? : variations of the fiscal effects of EU migrants across welfare state regimes, Politics & society, 2024, Vol. 52, No. 3, pp. 376-408, [Migration Policy Centre] - https://hdl.handle.net/1814/75924
Abstract
Strong claims have been made about the incompatibility between large-scale migration and advanced welfare states. The free movement of workers within the European Union (EU) offers an interesting case for the study of the fiscal effects of unrestricted labor migration in different types of welfare states This article therefore investigates the alleged tension between advanced welfare states and liberal migration policies by analyzing how the fiscal effects of EU migrants vary across European welfare state regimes. In contrast to arguments commonly made in public debates, we argue and explain why theoretical reasoning should lead us to expect limited differences in fiscal effects of EU migrants in different welfare states. The empirical analysis, covering twenty-nine countries during 2004–15, shows that the net fiscal impact of EU migrants in the different welfare state regimes of West European countries is positive, and we find no major differences in the fiscal impacts of EU migrants across Western regimes. These results from the EU case cast doubts on the claim that advanced welfare states are incompatible with large-scale immigration because of adverse fiscal effects, and on the idea that broad institutional characteristics of welfare states have substantial consequences for the fiscal impact of migration.