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Musn’t Grumble. Immigration, Health and Health Service Use in the UK and Germany

Author

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  • Jonathan Wadsworth

    (Royal Holloway College, Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics; Centre for Analysis and Research on Migration at UCL and IZA, Bonn)

Abstract

A rise in population caused by increased immigration, is sometimes accompanied by concerns that the increase in population puts additional or differential pressure on welfare services which might affect the net fiscal contribution of immigrants. The UK and Germany have experienced significant increases in immigration in recent years and this study uses longitudinal data from both countries to examine whether immigrants differ in their use of health services than native born individuals on arrival and over time. While immigrants to Germany, but not the UK, are more likely to self-report poor health than the native-born population, the samples of immigrants use hospital and GP services at broadly the same rate as the native born populations in both countries. Controls for observed and unobserved differences between immigrants and native-born sample populations make little difference to these broad findings.

Suggested Citation

  • Jonathan Wadsworth, 2012. "Musn’t Grumble. Immigration, Health and Health Service Use in the UK and Germany," RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series 1221, Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM).
  • Handle: RePEc:crm:wpaper:1221
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    File URL: https://www.cream-migration.org/publ_uploads/CDP_21_12.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Immigration: let's not be reasonable
      by chris dillow in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2012-11-02 19:40:42

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    Cited by:

    1. Christian Dustmann & Tommaso Frattini, 2014. "The Fiscal Effects of Immigration to the UK," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 124(580), pages 593-643, November.
    2. 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.
    3. Stewart, Kitty & Cooper, Kerris & Shutes, Isabel, 2020. "What will ‘taking back control’ mean for social policy in the UK? Brexit, public services and social rights," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 105183, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Immigration; Health; Health Service;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H00 - Public Economics - - General - - - General
    • J00 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - General

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