IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eme/ijmpps/v34y2013i2p113-125.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Immigration and welfare state cash benefits: the Danish case

Author

Listed:
  • Peder J. Pedersen

Abstract

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to summarize existing evidence on welfare dependence among immigrants in Denmark and to produce new evidence with focus on the most recent years. Design/methodology/approach - The paper combines a broad descriptive/analytical approach with multivariate estimation on the impact on welfare dependence from individual background factors. Findings - The main finding is the importance of aggregate low unemployment for immigrants to assimilate out of welfare dependence. Fairly small effects are reported from policy changes intending to influence the economic incentives between welfare programs and jobs. Research limitations/implications - While panel data as used in the paper have a great potential, still a number of policy changes are not identified at the individual level. In further work it would be relevant to broaden the coverage including also some small policy programs and to extend the analysis to cover the period including the financial crisis years. Social implications - The paper has a potential to influence public attitudes in this area and to inform further public policy regarding benefit programs. Originality/value - The main new result is the finding, at a disaggregate level, of how changes in immigration policy and cyclical changes interact, influencing the assimilation into or out of dependence on cash benefit programs.

Suggested Citation

  • Peder J. Pedersen, 2013. "Immigration and welfare state cash benefits: the Danish case," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 34(2), pages 113-125, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:eme:ijmpps:v:34:y:2013:i:2:p:113-125
    DOI: 10.1108/01437721311320645
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/01437721311320645/full/html?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/01437721311320645/full/pdf?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1108/01437721311320645?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rosholm, Michael & Vejlin, Rune, 2010. "Reducing income transfers to refugee immigrants: Does start-help help you start?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 258-275, January.
    2. Blume, Kraen & Verner, Mette, 2007. "Welfare dependency among Danish immigrants," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 453-471, June.
    3. Nannestad, Peter, 2007. "Immigration and welfare states: A survey of 15 years of research," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 512-532, June.
    4. Clausen, Jens & Heinesen, Eskil & Hummelgaard, Hans & Husted, Leif & Rosholm, Michael, 2009. "The effect of integration policies on the time until regular employment of newly arrived immigrants: Evidence from Denmark," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 409-417, August.
    5. Alan Barrett & Yvonne McCarthy, 2008. "Immigrants and welfare programmes: exploring the interactions between immigrant characteristics, immigrant welfare dependence, and welfare policy," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 24(3), pages 543-560, Autumn.
    6. Pedersen, Peder J. & Pytlikova, Mariola & Smith, Nina, 2008. "Selection and network effects--Migration flows into OECD countries 1990-2000," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(7), pages 1160-1186, October.
    7. Nannestad, Peter, 2004. "Immigration as a challenge to the Danish welfare state?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 755-767, September.
    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. Jonas Helgertz & Pieter Bevelander & Anna Tegunimataka, 2014. "Naturalization and Earnings: A Denmark–Sweden Comparison," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 30(3), pages 337-359, August.
    2. Vibeke Jakobsen & Tomas Korpi & Thomas Lorentzen, 2019. "Immigration and Integration Policy and Labour Market Attainment Among Immigrants to Scandinavia," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 35(2), pages 305-328, May.

    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. Pawel Kaczmarczyk, 2013. "Are immigrants a burden for the state budget? Review paper," EUI-RSCAS Working Papers p0356, European University Institute (EUI), Robert Schuman Centre of Advanced Studies (RSCAS).
    2. Kaczmarczyk, Pawel, 2015. "Burden or Relief? Fiscal Impacts of Recent Ukrainian Migration to Poland," IZA Discussion Papers 8779, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Azarnert, Leonid V., 2018. "Refugee resettlement, redistribution and growth," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 89-98.
    4. Gaston, Noel & Rajaguru, Gulasekaran, 2013. "International migration and the welfare state revisited," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 90-101.
    5. Cécily Defoort & Carine Drapier, 2012. "Immigration and its dependence on the welfare system: the case of France," Working Papers hal-00995293, HAL.
    6. Corrado Giulietti & Jackline Wahba, 2013. "Welfare migration," Chapters, in: Amelie F. Constant & Klaus F. Zimmermann (ed.), International Handbook on the Economics of Migration, chapter 26, pages 489-504, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    7. Ian Preston, 2014. "The Effect of Immigration on Public Finances," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 124(580), pages 569-592, November.
    8. Urs Steiner Brandt & Gert Tinggaard Svendsen, 2019. "How robust is the welfare state when facing open borders? An evolutionary game-theoretic model," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 178(1), pages 179-195, January.
    9. Zimmermann, Klaus F. & Kahanec, Martin & Giulietti, Corrado & Guzi, Martin & Barrett, Alan & Maitre, Bertrand, 2012. "Study on Active Inclusion of Migrants," IZA Research Reports 43, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Azarnert, Leonid V., 2010. "Immigration, fertility, and human capital: A model of economic decline of the West," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 431-440, December.
    11. Stephen Drinkwater & Catherine Robinson, 2013. "Welfare participation by immigrants in the UK," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 34(2), pages 100-112, May.
    12. Sheetal K. Chand & Martin Paldam, 2004. "The economics of immigration into a Nordic welfare state - and a comparison to an immigration state and a guest worker state," Economics Working Papers 2004-4, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.
    13. Giuseppe Bertola & John Driffill & Harold James & Hans-Werner Sinn & Jan-Egbert Sturm & Ákos Valentinyi, 2015. "Chapter 4:Migration in the European Union: Too much of a goodthing?," EEAG Report on the European Economy, CESifo, vol. 0, pages 78-96, February.
    14. Juan M. Villa & Miguel Niño-Zarazúa, 2019. "Poverty dynamics and graduation from conditional cash transfers: a transition model for Mexico’s Progresa-Oportunidades-Prospera program," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 17(2), pages 219-251, June.
    15. Jacob Nielsen Arendt & Christian Dustmann & Hyejin Ku, 2022. "Refugee migration and the labour market: lessons from 40 years of post-arrival policies in Denmark," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 38(3), pages 531-556.
    16. Jacob Nielsen Arendt & Iben Bolvig & Mette Foged & Linea Hasager & Giovanni Peri, 2020. "Language Training and Refugees' Integration," NBER Working Papers 26834, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Peter Huber & Doris Oberdabernig, 2013. "Does Migration Threaten the Sustainability of European Welfare States? WWWforEurope Working Paper No. 21," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 46882.
    18. Matilda Kilström & Birthe Larsen & Elisabet Olme, 2023. "Temporary refugee protection and labor-market outcomes," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 65(4), pages 1895-1929, October.
    19. Aldashev, Alisher & Thomsen, Stephan L. & Walter, Thomas, 2010. "Short-term training programs for immigrants: do effects differ from natives and why?," ZEW Discussion Papers 10-021, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    20. Dowon Kim & Dongwon Lee, 2021. "Immigration and the pattern of public spending: evidence from OECD countries," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 28(4), pages 1014-1034, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Denmark; Immigration; Benefits; Public policy; Social welfare policy; Cash benefit programs; Immigration policies; Welfare dependence; Cyclical impact;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H53 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

    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:eme:ijmpps:v:34:y:2013:i:2:p:113-125. 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: Emerald Support (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.