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The Welfare State versus the Common Labor Market: Which to Dismantle?

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  • John Douglas Wilson

Abstract

Migration by low-income workers limits the ability of a country to redistribute income, since more generous income supplements attract additional workers into the country, reducing wages and raising the cost of the program. This article studies the role of immigration controls, which allow the government to raise the real incomes of existing immigrants without causing additional immigration. Paradoxically, immigration controls may lead to higher equilibrium levels of immigration in a common labor market, and those low-income individuals left behind in the source countries may be better off. Simply stated, a host country benefits more from immigrants when they are not impoverished, and immigration controls enable the country to eliminate impoverishment. Thus, the country is willing to increase the number of immigrants that it allows within its borders. After obtaining this insight from the basic model, the article discusses some extensions and qualifications. Copyright , Oxford University Press.

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  • John Douglas Wilson, 2007. "The Welfare State versus the Common Labor Market: Which to Dismantle?," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo, vol. 53(4), pages 618-636, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:cesifo:v:53:y:2007:i:4:p:618-636
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/cesifo/ifm021
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    Cited by:

    1. Emilson Caputo Delfino Silva & Vander Mendes Lucas, 2016. "Common labor market, attachment and spillovers in a large metropolis," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 23(4), pages 693-715, August.
    2. Oliver Lorz & Karen Schaefer, 2011. "Temporary immigration visas," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 18(3), pages 291-303, June.

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