IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/rmk/rmkbae/v1y2014i1p35-63.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Effect of Immigration on Economic Growth in an Ageing Economy

Author

Listed:
  • Joan Muysken
  • Thomas Ziesemer

Abstract

Immigration can help to alleviate the burden ageing presents for the welfare states of most Western Economies. To show this, a macroeconomic model is developed which deals with the effect of both ageing and immigration on economic growth, through home-biased capital accumulation. The model includes a detailed description of the labor market, analyzing the interaction with low-skilled unemployment. The empirical relevance of some crucial model assumptions is shown to hold for the Netherlands, 1973 – 2009, using a vector-error-correction model. Simulations of the latter model show that permanent shocks in immigration will help to alleviate the ageing problem in the long run, as long as the immigrants will be able to participate in the labor force at least as much as the native population. Moreover, the better educated the immigrants are or become, the higher their contribution to growth will be.

Suggested Citation

  • Joan Muysken & Thomas Ziesemer, 2014. "The Effect of Immigration on Economic Growth in an Ageing Economy," Bulletin of Applied Economics, Risk Market Journals, vol. 1(1), pages 35-63.
    • Handle: RePEc:rmk:rmkbae:v:1:y:2014:i:1:p:35-63
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.riskmarket.co.uk/bae/journals-articles/issues/1_1_3/?download=attachment.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Razin, Assaf & Sadka, Efraim, 2000. " Unskilled Migration: A Burden or a Boon for the Welfare State?," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 102(3), pages 463-479, June.
    2. Ekrame Boubtane & Jean-Christophe Dumont & Christophe Rault, 2016. "Immigration and economic growth in the OECD countries 1986–2006," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 68(2), pages 340-360.
    3. Sorensen, Bent E. & Wu, Yi-Tsung & Yosha, Oved & Zhu, Yu, 2007. "Home bias and international risk sharing: Twin puzzles separated at birth," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 587-605, June.
    4. Ekrame Boubtane & Jean-Christophe Dumont & Christophe Rault, 2013. "Immigration and economic growth in the OECD countries 1986-2006," Post-Print halshs-00800617, HAL.
    5. Boubtane, Ekrame & Coulibaly, Dramane & Rault, Christophe, 2013. "Immigration, unemployment and GDP in the host country: Bootstrap panel Granger causality analysis on OECD countries," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 261-269.
    6. Vladimir Borgy & Xavier Chojnicki & Gilles Le Garrec & Cyrille Schwellnus, 2010. "Macroeconomic Consequences of Global Endogenous Migration: a General Equilibrium Analysis," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 97-98, pages 13-39.
    7. Filip Keereman & Istvan Szekely (ed.), 2010. "Five Years of an Enlarged EU," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-642-12516-4, November.
    8. Herbert Brücker & Elke J. Jahn, 2011. "Migration and Wage‐setting: Reassessing the Labor Market Effects of Migration," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 113(2), pages 286-317, June.
    9. Morley, Bruce, 2006. "Causality between economic growth and immigration: An ARDL bounds testing approach," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 90(1), pages 72-76, January.
    10. Muysken, J. & Corvers, F. & Ziesemer, T.H.W., 2008. "Immigration can alleviate the ageing problem," Research Memorandum 004, Maastricht University, Maastricht Research School of Economics of Technology and Organization (METEOR).
    11. Hans Fehr & Sabine Jokisch & Laurence J. Kotlikoff, 2010. "Global growth, ageing, and inequality across and within generations," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 26(4), pages 636-654, Winter.
    12. Muysken, Joan & Ziesemer, Thomas, 2011. "Immigration and growth in an ageing economy - version 2," MERIT Working Papers 2011-037, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    13. Alexander Kemnitz, 2003. "Immigration, Unemployment and Pensions," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 105(1), pages 31-48, March.
    14. Boubtane, Ekrame & Coulibaly, Dramane & Rault, Christophe, 2011. "Immigration, Unemployment and Growth in the Host Country: Bootstrap Panel Granger Causality Analysis on OECD Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 5853, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Gabriel J Felbermayr & Wilhelm Kohler, 2014. "Immigration and Native Welfare," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: European Economic Integration, WTO Membership, Immigration and Offshoring, chapter 10, pages 335-372, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    16. Casarico, Alessandra & Devillanova, Carlo, 2003. "Social security and migration with endogenous skill upgrading," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(3-4), pages 773-797, March.
    17. J. Muysken & T. H. W. Ziesemer, 2013. "A permanent effect of temporary immigration on economic growth," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(28), pages 4050-4059, October.
    18. Martin Kahanec & Klaus F. Zimmermann, 2008. "Migration in an Enlarged EU: A Challenging Solution?," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 849, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    19. Holinski, Nils & Kool, Clemens J.M. & Muysken, Joan, 2012. "The impact of international portfolio composition on consumption risk sharing," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 1715-1728.
    20. Gianluca Orefice, 2010. "Skilled Migration and Economic Performances: Evidence from OECD Countries," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 146(IV), pages 781-820, December.
    21. N. Gregory Mankiw & David Romer & David N. Weil, 1992. "A Contribution to the Empirics of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(2), pages 407-437.
    22. Razin, Assaf & Sadka, Efraim, 1999. "Migration and pension with international capital mobility," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(1), pages 141-150, October.
    23. Lundborg, Per & Segerstrom, Paul S., 2002. "The growth and welfare effects of international mass migration," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 177-204, January.
    24. Joanna Wolszczak-Derlacz, 2009. "Does migration lead to economic convergence in an enlarged European market?," Bank i Kredyt, Narodowy Bank Polski, vol. 40(4), pages 71-87.
    25. Baele, Lieven & Pungulescu, Crina & Ter Horst, Jenke, 2007. "Model uncertainty, financial market integration and the home bias puzzle," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 606-630, June.
    26. Michael Ben-Gad, 2008. "Capital-Skill Complementarity and the Immigration Surplus," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 11(2), pages 335-365, April.
    27. Tim Krieger, 2004. "Fertility rates and skill distribution in Razin and Sadka’s migration-pension model: A note," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 17(1), pages 177-182, February.
    28. 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.
    29. Ekrame Boubtane & Jean-Christophe Dumont, 2013. "Immigration and economic growth in the OECD countries 1986-2006: A panel data analysis," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 13013, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    30. VanPée, Rosanne & De Moor, Lieven, 2012. "Bond and Equity Home Bias and Foreign Bias: an International Study," Working Papers 2012/24, Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel, Faculteit Economie en Management.
    31. Hans Fehr & Sabine Jokisch & Laurence J. Kotlikoff, 2004. "The Role of Immigration in Dealing with the Developed World's Demographic Transition," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 60(3), pages 296-324, September.
    32. Boeri, Tito & Brucker, Herbert & Docquier, Frederic & Rapoport, Hillel (ed.), 2012. "Brain Drain and Brain Gain: The Global Competition to Attract High-Skilled Migrants," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199654826.
    33. Philip Bodman, 1998. "A Contribution on the Empirics of Trade, Migration and Economic Growth for Australia and Canada," International Economic Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(3), pages 41-62.
    34. Larramona, Gemma & Sanso, Marcos, 2006. "Migration dynamics, growth and convergence," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 30(11), pages 2261-2279, November.
    35. Kemnitz, Alexander, 2001. "Endogenous growth and the gains from immigration," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 215-218, August.
    36. Jones, Charles I, 1995. "R&D-Based Models of Economic Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(4), pages 759-784, August.
    37. Chris Papageorgiou & Marianne Saam, 2008. "Two‐level CES Production Technology in the Solow and Diamond Growth Models," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 110(1), pages 119-143, March.
    38. Assaf Razin & Efraim Sadka, 2000. "Unskilled Migration: A Burden or a Boon for the Welfare State?," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 102(3), pages 463-479, 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. von Gaessler, Anne Edle & Ziesemer, Thomas, 2016. "Optimal education in times of ageing: The dependency ratio in the Uzawa–Lucas growth model," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 7(C), pages 125-142.
    2. Thomas Ziesemer & Anne von Gässler, 2021. "Ageing, human capital and demographic dividends with endogenous growth, labour supply and foreign capital," Portuguese Economic Journal, Springer;Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestao, vol. 20(2), pages 129-160, May.
    3. Ziesemer, Thomas, 2018. "The serendipity theorem for an endogenous open economy growth model," MERIT Working Papers 2018-001, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    4. Daniel Rauhut & Birgit Aigner-Walder & Rahel M. Schomaker, 2023. "Economic Theory and Migration," Springer Books, in: The Economics of Immigration Beyond the Cities, chapter 0, pages 21-50, Springer.

    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. Muysken, Joan & Ziesemer, Thomas, 2011. "Immigration and growth in an ageing economy - version 2," MERIT Working Papers 2011-037, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    2. Marcus H. Böhme & Sarah Kups, 2017. "The economic effects of labour immigration in developing countries: A literature review," OECD Development Centre Working Papers 335, OECD Publishing.
    3. Muysken, J. & Corvers, F. & Ziesemer, T.H.W., 2008. "Immigration can alleviate the ageing problem," Research Memorandum 004, Maastricht University, Maastricht Research School of Economics of Technology and Organization (METEOR).
    4. Ian Preston, 2014. "The Effect of Immigration on Public Finances," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 124(580), pages 569-592, November.
    5. Gurgen Aslanyan, 2014. "The migration challenge for PAYG," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 27(4), pages 1023-1038, October.
    6. Kemnitz, Alexander, 2008. "Can immigrant employment alleviate the demographic burden? The role of union centralization," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 99(1), pages 123-126, April.
    7. Tim Krieger, 2014. "Public Pensions and Immigration," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 12(2), pages 10-15, 07.
    8. Tim Krieger, 2014. "Public Pensions and Immigration," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 12(02), pages 10-15, July.
    9. Zaiceva, A. & Zimmermann, K.F., 2016. "Migration and the Demographic Shift," Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, in: Piggott, John & Woodland, Alan (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 119-177, Elsevier.
    10. repec:ces:ifodic:v:12:y:2014:i:2:p:19116205 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Yohei Sekiguchi & Masatoshi Jinno, 2018. "Beveridge Versus Bismarck Pension Systems: Considering Fertility Rates And Skill Distribution," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 63(05), pages 1141-1153, December.
    12. Krieger, Tim, 2005. "Renten und Zuwanderung: Ein Überblick über neue Ergebnisse der Forschung," Arbeitspapiere der Nordakademie 2005-04, Nordakademie - Hochschule der Wirtschaft.
    13. Masatoshi Jinno & Masaya Yasuoka, 2022. "Economic benefits of immigration for natives: the effects of immigrants through the school system," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 69(2), pages 125-143, June.
    14. Muysken, Joan & Vallizadeh, Ehsan & Ziesemer, Thomas, 2012. "The impact of Medium-Skilled immigration: A general equilibrium approach," MERIT Working Papers 2012-055, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    15. Masatoshi Jinno, 2013. "The impact of immigration under the defined-benefit pension system," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 28(21), pages 613-636.
    16. Tim Krieger, 2008. "Public pensions and return migration," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 134(3), pages 163-178, March.
    17. Masatoshi Jinno & Masaya Yasuoka, 2022. "Immigration policy in a two sector model," Discussion Paper Series 241, School of Economics, Kwansei Gakuin University.
    18. Joan Muysken & Ehsan Vallizadeh & Thomas Ziesemer, 2015. "Migration, Unemployment, and Skill Downgrading," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 117(2), pages 403-451, April.
    19. Javier Vázquez Grenno, 2008. "Immigration in a Segmented Labor Market: The Effects on Welfare," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 64(2), pages 199-217, June.
    20. Vallizadeh, Ehsan & Muysken, Joan & Ziesemer, Thomas, 2013. "Migration, unemployment, and skill downgrading : a specific-factors approach," IAB-Discussion Paper 201313, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    21. Gurgen Aslanyan, 2012. "Immigration Control & Long-Run Population Welfare," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp453, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Ageing; Immigration; Unemployment; Skills;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • O52 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Europe

    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:rmk:rmkbae:v:1:y:2014:i:1:p:35-63. 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: Eleftherios Spyromitros-Xioufis (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.riskmarket.co.uk/ .

    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.