Australia’s policies towards asylum seekers hit the headlines when it refused to admit those aboard the Tampa in September 2001. This tough stance and the raft of legislation that followed became known as Australia’s ‘Pacific Solution’. It was clearly intended to deter those who might otherwise arrive by sea or by air to claim asylum in Australia. Several other countries toughened their policies after September the 11th 2001. This paper examines the effects of those policies on the subsequent streams of asylum applications by estimating the effects from panel data using a differences-in-differences approach. We find that the post-Tampa effect for Australia was to cut asylum applications by more than half. In other countries such as New Zealand and the UK, negative policy effects are also found but they are somewhat weaker. We conclude that the deterrent effects of policy are greatest not only when tough policies are enforced but when they are also widely publicised.
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Paper provided by C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number
5074.
Find related papers by JEL classification: F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
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Timothy Hatton & Jeffery Williamson, 2002.
"What Fundamentals Drive World Migration?,"
Discussion Papers
458, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University.
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