IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wfo/wpaper/y2011i393.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Welfare Magnets, Taxation and the Location Decisions of Migrants to the EU

Author

Listed:
  • Klaus Nowotny

Abstract

Migrants are among the groups most vulnerable to economic fluctuations. As predicted by the "welfare magnet" hypothesis, migrants can therefore be expected to – ceteris paribus – prefer countries with more generous welfare provisions to insure themselves against labour market risks. This paper analyses the role of the welfare magnet hypothesis for migrants to the EU 15 at the regional level. The empirical analysis based on a random parameters logit model shows that the regional location decisions of migrants are mostly governed by income opportunities, labour market conditions, ethnic networks and a common language. There is no strong evidence for the welfare magnet hypothesis in the EU, but the empirical model shows that the income tax system has a large and consistent effect on locational choice.

Suggested Citation

  • Klaus Nowotny, 2011. "Welfare Magnets, Taxation and the Location Decisions of Migrants to the EU," WIFO Working Papers 393, WIFO.
    • Handle: RePEc:wfo:wpaper:y:2011:i:393
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.wifo.ac.at/wwa/pubid/41504
    File Function: abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Thomas Bauer & Ira Gang & Gil Epstein, 2000. "What Are Migration Networks?," Departmental Working Papers 200016, Rutgers University, Department of Economics.
    2. Per-Anders Edin & Peter Fredriksson & Olof Åslund, 2003. "Ethnic Enclaves and the Economic Success of Immigrants—Evidence from a Natural Experiment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 118(1), pages 329-357.
    3. Amelie F. Constant & Elena D’Agosto, 2010. "Where Do the Brainy Italians Go?," AIEL Series in Labour Economics, in: Floro Ernesto Caroleo & Francesco Pastore (ed.), The Labour Market Impact of the EU Enlargement, pages 247-271, Springer.
    4. Bauer, Thomas K. & Epstein, Gil S. & Gang, Ira N., 2002. "Herd Effects or Migration Networks? The Location Choice of Mexican Immigrants in the U.S," IZA Discussion Papers 551, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Klaus Nowotny & Dieter Pennerstorfer, 2011. "Ethnic Networks and the Location Choice of Migrants in Europe," WIFO Working Papers 415, WIFO.
    6. Gary L. Hunt & Richard E. Mueller, 2004. "North American Migration: Returns to Skill, Border Effects, and Mobility Costs," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(4), pages 988-1007, November.
    7. Lorenzo Cappellari & Stephen P. Jenkins, 2006. "Calculation of multivariate normal probabilities by simulation, with applications to maximum simulated likelihood estimation," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 6(2), pages 156-189, June.
    8. B.R. Chiswick & P.W. Miller, 2000. "Do Enclaves Matter in Immigrant Adjustment?," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 00-19, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    9. C. Simon Fan & Oded Stark, 2007. "A Social Proximity Explanation of the Reluctance to Assimilate," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(1), pages 55-63, February.
    10. Burda, Michael C, 1995. "Migration and the Option Value of Waiting," CEPR Discussion Papers 1229, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    11. Phillip B. Levine & David J. Zimmerman, 1999. "An empirical analysis of the welfare magnet debate using the NLSY," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 12(3), pages 391-409.
    12. Yashiv, Eran, 2003. "Self-Selection of Migrant Workers: Migration Premium and (no) Returns to Skills," CEPR Discussion Papers 4156, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    13. Thomas Bauer & Gil Epstein & Ira Gang, 2005. "Enclaves, language, and the location choice of migrants," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 18(4), pages 649-662, November.
    14. Dominique M. Gross & Nicolas Schmitt, 2003. "The Role of Cultural Clustering in Attracting New Immigrants," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(2), pages 295-318, May.
    15. Hausman, Jerry & McFadden, Daniel, 1984. "Specification Tests for the Multinomial Logit Model," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(5), pages 1219-1240, September.
    16. Tim Green & L. Alan Winters, 2010. "Economic Crises and Migration: Learning from the Past and the Present," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(9), pages 1053-1072, September.
    17. Douglas J. Krupka, 2009. "Location‐Specific Human Capital, Location Choice And Amenity Demand," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(5), pages 833-854, December.
    18. Mayer, Thierry & Zignago, Soledad, 2006. "Notes on CEPII’s distances measures," MPRA Paper 26469, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Borjas, George J., 1999. "The economic analysis of immigration," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 28, pages 1697-1760, Elsevier.
    20. David A. Jaeger, 2007. "Green Cards and the Location Choices of Immigrants in the United States, 1971–2000," Research in Labor Economics, in: Immigration, pages 131-183, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    21. Anna Piil Damm, 2009. "Ethnic Enclaves and Immigrant Labor Market Outcomes: Quasi-Experimental Evidence," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 27(2), pages 281-314, April.
    22. Pernilla Andersson Joona & Eskil Wadensjö, 2009. "The employees of native and immigrant self-employed," Research in Labor Economics, in: Ethnicity and Labor Market Outcomes, pages 229-250, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    23. Cobb-Clark, Deborah A, 1993. "Immigrant Selectivity and Wages: The Evidence for Women," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(4), pages 986-993, September.
    24. Paul S. Davies & Michael J. Greenwood & Haizheng Li, 2001. "A Conditional Logit Approach to U.S. State‐to‐State Migration," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(2), pages 337-360, May.
    25. Heiko Steffens, 2010. "OECD. (2009). Promoting Consumer Education—Trends, Policies and Good Practices. Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. ISBN 978-92-64-06008-1. 189 pp., 30.00 EUR," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 33(3), pages 291-292, September.
    26. Edward P. Lazear, 1999. "Culture and Language," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 107(S6), pages 95-126, December.
    27. Robert A. Nakosteen & Olle Westerlund & Michael Zimmer, 2008. "Migration And Self‐Selection: Measured Earnings And Latent Characteristics," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(4), pages 769-788, October.
    28. Wido Geis & Silke Uebelmesser & Martin Werding, 2013. "How do Migrants Choose Their Destination Country? An Analysis of Institutional Determinants," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(5), pages 825-840, November.
    29. Burda, Michael C., 1993. "The determinants of East-West German migration: Some first results," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(2-3), pages 452-461, April.
    30. Carrington, William J & Detragiache, Enrica & Vishwanath, Tara, 1996. "Migration with Endogenous Moving Costs," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(4), pages 909-930, September.
    31. Anna Damm, 2009. "Determinants of recent immigrants’ location choices: quasi-experimental evidence," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 22(1), pages 145-174, January.
    32. George J. Borjas, 2021. "Self-Selection and the Earnings of Immigrants," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Foundational Essays in Immigration Economics, chapter 4, pages 69-91, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    33. Epstein, Gil S., 2002. "Informational Cascades and Decision to Migrate," IZA Discussion Papers 445, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    34. Daniel McFadden & Kenneth Train, 2000. "Mixed MNL models for discrete response," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(5), pages 447-470.
    35. Lars Nerdrum & Bo Sarpebakken, 2006. "Mobility of foreign researchers in Norway," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 33(3), pages 217-229, April.
    36. David McKenzie & Hillel Rapoport, 2010. "Self-Selection Patterns in Mexico-U.S. Migration: The Role of Migration Networks," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 92(4), pages 811-821, November.
    37. Train,Kenneth E., 2009. "Discrete Choice Methods with Simulation," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521747387.
    38. David Hensher & William Greene, 2003. "The Mixed Logit model: The state of practice," Transportation, Springer, vol. 30(2), pages 133-176, May.
    39. Grogger, Jeffrey & Hanson, Gordon H., 2011. "Income maximization and the selection and sorting of international migrants," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(1), pages 42-57, May.
    40. Chiswick, Barry R. & Miller, Paul W., 2007. "The International Transferability of Immigrants’ Human Capital Skills," IZA Discussion Papers 2670, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    41. Madeline Zavodny, 1998. "Determinants of recent immigrants' locational choices," FRB Atlanta Working Paper 98-3, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
    42. Axel Heitmueller, 2006. "Coordination Failures In Network Migration," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 74(6), pages 701-710, December.
    43. Bhat, Chandra R., 2001. "Quasi-random maximum simulated likelihood estimation of the mixed multinomial logit model," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 35(7), pages 677-693, August.
    44. Miranda, Alfonso, 2007. "Migrant Networks, Migrant Selection, and High School Graduation in Mexico," IZA Discussion Papers 3204, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    45. Peter Egger & Doina Maria Radulescu, 2009. "The Influence of Labour Taxes on the Migration of Skilled Workers," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(9), pages 1365-1379, September.
    46. Christiadi & Brian Cushing, 2008. "The Joint Choice Of An Individual'S Occupation And Destination," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(5), pages 893-919, December.
    47. David Hensher, 2001. "The valuation of commuter travel time savings for car drivers: evaluating alternative model specifications," Transportation, Springer, vol. 28(2), pages 101-118, May.
    48. Borjas, George J, 1999. "Immigration and Welfare Magnets," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 17(4), pages 607-637, October.
    49. Arne Risa Hole, 2007. "Fitting mixed logit models by using maximum simulated likelihood," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 7(3), pages 388-401, September.
    50. Kaivan Munshi, 2003. "Networks in the Modern Economy: Mexican Migrants in the U. S. Labor Market," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(2), pages 549-599.
    51. Howard J. Wall, 2001. "articles: Voting with your feet in the United Kingdom: Using cross-migration rates to estimate relative living standards," Papers in Regional Science, Springer;Regional Science Association International, vol. 80(1), pages 1-23.
    52. Bosch, Darrell, 2002. "Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Income Risk Management in Agriculture: OECD, Paris, France, December 2000, 152 pp., US$ 42.00, Softcover, ISBN 92-64-18534-8," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 27(1), pages 88-90, May.
    53. Julian Ramajo & Montserrat Ferre, 2010. "Purchasing power parity revisited: evidence from old and new tests for an organisation for economic co-operation and development panel," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(17), pages 2243-2260.
    54. Paul D. Gottlieb & George Joseph, 2006. "College‐To‐Work Migration Of Technology Graduates And Holders Of Doctorates Within The United States," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(4), pages 627-659, October.
    55. Thomas Liebig & Alfonso Sousa‐Poza, 2004. "Migration, Self‐Selection and Income Inequality: An International Analysis," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(1), pages 125-146, February.
    56. Bratsberg, Bernt, 1995. "The incidence of non-return among foreign students in the United States," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 14(4), pages 373-384, December.
    57. A. D. Roy, 1951. "Some Thoughts On The Distribution Of Earnings," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 3(2), pages 135-146.
    58. Bartel, Ann P, 1989. "Where Do the New U.S. Immigrants Live?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 7(4), pages 371-391, October.
    59. Talat Mahmood & Klaus Schömann, 2003. "On the Migration Decision of IT-Graduates: A Two-Level Nested Logit Model," CIG Working Papers SP II 2003-22, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin (WZB), Research Unit: Competition and Innovation (CIG).
    60. Molho, Ian, 1986. "Theories of Migration: A Review," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 33(4), pages 396-419, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Stanislav Cernosa, 2011. "Openness to Trade, Migration and Foreign Direct Investments of the EU," WIFO Working Papers 401, WIFO.
    2. Klaus Nowotny, 2011. "AFLA – Arbeitskräftemobilität und Fachkräftebedarf nach der Liberalisierung des österreichischen Arbeitsmarktes. Migrations- und Pendelpotentiale nach Ende der Übergangsfristen für die Arbeitskräftefr," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 41563, February.
    3. Peter Huber, 2015. "What Institutions Help Immigrants Integrate? WWWforEurope Working Paper No. 77," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 57884, February.
    4. Mario Morger, 2013. "What Do Immigrants Value Most About Switzerland? Evidence of the Relative Importance of Income Taxes," CESifo Working Paper Series 4134, CESifo.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Peter Huber & Klaus Nowotny & Julia Bock-Schappelwein, 2010. "Qualification Structure, Over- and Under-qualification of the Foreign Born in Austria and the EU," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 41226, Juni.
    2. Klaus Nowotny & Dieter Pennerstorfer, 2011. "Ethnic Networks and the Location Choice of Migrants in Europe," WIFO Working Papers 415, WIFO.
    3. Klaus Nowotny, 2011. "AFLA – Arbeitskräftemobilität und Fachkräftebedarf nach der Liberalisierung des österreichischen Arbeitsmarktes. Migrations- und Pendelpotentiale nach Ende der Übergangsfristen für die Arbeitskräftefr," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 41563, February.
    4. Klaus Nowotny & Robert Hierländer, 2009. "FAMO – Fachkräftemonitoring. Regelmäßige Erhebung des Angebots und des Bedarfs an Fachkräften in der Grenzregion Ostösterreichs mit der Slowakei. FAMO I: Migrations- und Pendelpotentiale in Wien und d," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 37422, February.
    5. Bredtmann, Julia & Nowotny, Klaus & Otten, Sebastian, 2020. "Linguistic distance, networks and migrants’ regional location choice," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    6. Dustmann, Christian & Glitz, Albrecht, 2011. "Migration and Education," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & Stephen Machin & Ludger Woessmann (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 327-439, Elsevier.
    7. Klaus Nowotny, 2015. "Institutions and the Location Decisions of Highly Skilled Migrants to Europe. WWWforEurope Working Paper No. 78," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 57885, February.
    8. Julia Bredtmann & Klaus Nowotny & Sebastian Otten, 2017. "Linguistic Distance, Networks and Migrants’ Regional Location Choice," RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series 1712, Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM).
    9. N. N., 2009. "Labour Mobility within the EU in the Context of Enlargement and the Functioning of the Transitional Arrangements," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 35641, February.
    10. Elsner, Benjamin & Narciso, Gaia & Thijssen, Jacco J. J., 2013. "Migrant Networks and the Spread of Misinformation," IZA Discussion Papers 7863, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Zhiling Wang & Thomas de Graaff & Peter Nijkamp, 2018. "Barriers of Culture, Networks, and Language in International Migration: A Review," REGION, European Regional Science Association, vol. 5, pages 73-89.
    12. Fernández-Huertas Moraga, Jesús, 2013. "Understanding different migrant selection patterns in rural and urban Mexico," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 182-201.
    13. Brian Cushing & Jacques Poot, 2004. "Crossing boundaries and borders: Regional science advances in migration modelling," Advances in Spatial Science, in: Raymond J. G. M. Florax & David A. Plane (ed.), Fifty Years of Regional Science, pages 317-338, Springer.
    14. Klaus Nowotny, 2009. "Regionale Konzentration von Migranten in der EU 15," WIFO Monatsberichte (monthly reports), WIFO, vol. 82(6), pages 445-457, June.
    15. Escamilla Guerrero, David & Lepistö, Miko & Minns, Chris, 2022. "Explaining gender differences in migrant sorting: evidence from Canada-US migration," Economic History Working Papers 117260, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    16. Corneo, Giacomo & Neidhöfer, Guido, 2021. "Income redistribution and self-selection of immigrants," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    17. Hubert Jayet & Glenn Rayp & Ilse Ruyssen & Nadiya Ukrayinchuk, 2016. "Immigrants’ location choice in Belgium," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 57(1), pages 63-89, July.
    18. Simone Bertoli, 2010. "Networks, Sorting and Self-selection of Ecuadorian Migrants," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 97-98, pages 261-288.
    19. Jens Ruhose, 2015. "Microeconometric Analyses on Economic Consequences of Selective Migration," ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 61.
    20. Johan Klaesson & Özge Öner & Dieter Pennerstorfer, 2023. "Do co-ethnic commuters disseminate labor market information? Evidence from geocoded register data," Economics working papers 2023-16, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    welfare magnet hypothesis; migration; random parameters logit model;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wfo:wpaper:y:2011:i:393. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Florian Mayr (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/wifooat.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.