IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/hal-00447157.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Optimal discretion in asylum lawmaking

Author

Listed:
  • Jenny Monheim-Helstroffer

    (CREA - Center for Research in Economic Analysis - uni.lu - Université du Luxembourg = University of Luxembourg = Universität Luxemburg)

  • Marie Obidzinski

    (CRESE - Centre de REcherches sur les Stratégies Economiques (UR 3190) - UFC - Université de Franche-Comté - UBFC - Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté [COMUE])

Abstract

This paper develops a regulatory competition model to study whether and how refugee law should be centralized, and what are the consequences for refugees and for host countries. Varying refugee flows across countries lead some destinations to adopt strict measures. The resulting externality leads to a generalized "race to the bottom" of asylum law. Neither fixed nor minimum standard harmonization are found to be in the interest of both host countries. Especially the most popular destinations like EU border countries would suffer from losing discretion. However, minimum standards would benefit refugees and less popular destinations.

Suggested Citation

  • Jenny Monheim-Helstroffer & Marie Obidzinski, 2010. "Optimal discretion in asylum lawmaking," Post-Print hal-00447157, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00447157
    DOI: 10.1016/j.irle.2009.09.004
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-00447157v1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hal.science/hal-00447157v1/document
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.irle.2009.09.004?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
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marceau, Nicolas & Mongrain, Steeve, 2011. "Competition in law enforcement and capital allocation," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 136-147, January.
    2. Alberto Alesina & Enrico Spolaore, 1997. "On the Number and Size of Nations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(4), pages 1027-1056.
    3. Markusen James R. & Morey Edward R. & Olewiler Nancy D., 1993. "Environmental Policy when Market Structure and Plant Locations Are Endogenous," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 69-86, January.
    4. Easterbrook, Frank H, 1983. "Antitrust and the Economics of Federalism," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(1), pages 23-50, April.
    5. Henry van Egteren & R. Smith & Dean McAfee, 2004. "Harmonization of Environmental Regulations When Firms are Judgment Proof," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 139-164, March.
    6. Monheim, Jenny, 2007. "Strategic asylum law making in Europe: institutional locus," CSLE Discussion Paper Series 2007-02, Saarland University, CSLE - Center for the Study of Law and Economics.
    7. DePeter James A. & Myers Gordon M., 1994. "Strategic Capital Tax Competition: A Pecuniary Externality and a Corrective Device," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 66-78, July.
    8. Costrell, Robert M., 1997. "Can centralized educational standards raise welfare?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(3), pages 271-293, September.
    9. Peralta, Susana & van Ypersele, Tanguy, 2006. "Coordination of capital taxation among asymmetric countries," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 708-726, November.
    10. Wildasin, David E., 1988. "Nash equilibria in models of fiscal competition," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 229-240, March.
    11. Ryan Bubb & Michael Kremer & David I. Levine, 2011. "The Economics of International Refugee Law," The Journal of Legal Studies, University of Chicago Press, vol. 40(2), pages 367-404.
    12. repec:bla:kyklos:v:53:y:2000:i:4:p:435-66 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Jack Mintz & Henry Tulkens, 2006. "Commodity Tax Competition Between Member States of a Federation: Equilibrium and Efficiency," Springer Books, in: Parkash Chander & Jacques Drèze & C. Knox Lovell & Jack Mintz (ed.), Public goods, environmental externalities and fiscal competition, chapter 0, pages 449-489, Springer.
    14. Landes, William M & Posner, Richard A, 1975. "The Independent Judiciary in an Interest-Group Perspective," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 18(3), pages 875-901, December.
    15. Charles M. Tiebout, 1956. "A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 64(5), pages 416-416.
    16. Nuno Garoupa & Anthony Ogus, 2006. "A Strategic Interpretation of Legal Transplants," The Journal of Legal Studies, University of Chicago Press, vol. 35(2), pages 339-363, June.
    17. Wallace E. Oates & Wallace E. Oates, 2004. "An Essay on Fiscal Federalism," Chapters, in: Environmental Policy and Fiscal Federalism, chapter 22, pages 384-414, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    18. Paul G. Mahoney & Chris William Sanchirico, 2005. "General and Specific Legal Rules," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 161(2), pages 329-346, June.
    19. Kanbur, Ravi & Keen, Michael, 1993. "Jeux Sans Frontieres: Tax Competition and Tax Coordination When Countries Differ in Size," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(4), pages 877-892, September.
    20. Nicolas Marceau, 1997. "Competition in Crime Deterrence," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 30(4), pages 844-854, November.
    21. Roger Van Den Bergh, 2000. "Towdards an Institutional Legal Framework for Regulatory Competition in Europe," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(4), pages 435-466, November.
    22. Timothy J. Hatton, 2004. "Seeking asylum in Europe [‘Violence against citizens in civil wars: looting or terror?’]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 19(38), pages 6-62.
    23. Oates, Wallace E. & Schwab, Robert M., 1988. "Economic competition among jurisdictions: efficiency enhancing or distortion inducing?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 333-354, April.
    24. repec:oup:ecpoli:v:19:y:2004:i:38:p:5-62 is not listed on IDEAS
    25. Frey, Bruno S. & Eichenberger, Reiner, 1996. "To harmonize or to compete? That's not the question," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(3), pages 335-349, June.
    26. Romano, Roberta, 1985. "Law as a Product: Some Pieces of the Incorporation Puzzle," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 1(2), pages 225-283, Fall.
    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. Dimiter Doychinov Toshkov, 2014. "The dynamic relationship between asylum applications and recognition rates in Europe (1987–2010)," European Union Politics, , vol. 15(2), pages 192-214, June.
    2. Loeper, Antoine, 2013. "Federal Directives, Local Discretion and the Majority Rule," Quarterly Journal of Political Science, now publishers, vol. 8(1), pages 41-74, January.
    3. Bertrand Crettez & Bruno Deffains & Olivier Musy, 2010. "On Legal Cooperation and the Dynamics of Legal Convergence," Working Papers hal-04140912, HAL.
    4. Jenny Monheim-Helstroffer & Marie Obidzinski, 2011. "The EU legislation game: the case of asylum law," Working Papers of BETA 2011-16, Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, UDS, Strasbourg.
    5. Veshi Denard, 2020. "The EU Regulatory Competition in Asylum Law," Central European Journal of Public Policy, Sciendo, vol. 14(1), pages 19-30, June.
    6. Baniak Andrzej & Grajzl Peter, 2011. "Interjurisdictional Linkages and the Scope for Interventionist Legal Harmonization," Review of Law & Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 7(2), pages 405-434, December.
    7. Monheim, Jenny, 2007. "Strategic asylum law making in Europe: institutional locus," CSLE Discussion Paper Series 2007-02, Saarland University, CSLE - Center for the Study of Law and Economics.
    8. Yuji Tamura, 2017. "Asylum providers: Hawks or Doves?," CEPR Discussion Papers 699, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.

    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. Zissimos, Ben & Wooders, Myrna, 2005. "Relaxing Tax Competition through Public Good Differentiation," Economic Research Papers 269630, University of Warwick - Department of Economics.
    2. Zodrow, George R, 2003. "Tax Competition and Tax Coordination in the European Union," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 10(6), pages 651-671, November.
    3. George Crowley & Russell Sobel, 2011. "Does fiscal decentralization constrain Leviathan? New evidence from local property tax competition," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 149(1), pages 5-30, October.
    4. Inman, Robert P. & Rubinfeld, Daniel L., 1996. "Designing tax policy in federalist economies: An overview," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(3), pages 307-334, June.
    5. Braid, Ralph M., 2000. "A Spatial Model of Tax Competition with Multiple Tax Instruments," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 88-114, January.
    6. Brueckner, Jan K., 2000. "A Tiebout/tax-competition model," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(2), pages 285-306, August.
    7. Lars P. Feld & Wolfgang Kerber, 2006. "Mehr-Ebenen Jurisdiktionssysteme: Zur variablen Architektur von Integration," Marburg Working Papers on Economics 200605, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    8. Delage, Benoit, 1999. "Concurrence fiscale : un survol," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 75(1), pages 67-93, mars-juin.
    9. Federico Etro, 2003. "Globalization and Political Geography," CESifo Working Paper Series 986, CESifo.
    10. Leonzio Rizzo, 2006. "Le inefficienze della competizione fiscale: una rassegna dei principali modelli teorici," Economia politica, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 1, pages 89-120.
    11. Markusen, James R. & Morey, Edward R. & Olewiler, Nancy, 1995. "Competition in regional environmental policies when plant locations are endogenous," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 55-77, January.
    12. Thierry Madiès, 1997. "Concurrence fiscale et intercommunalité," Revue de l'OFCE, Programme National Persée, vol. 63(1), pages 195-228.
    13. James R. Markusen & Edward R. Morey & Nancy Olewiler, 1992. "Noncooperative Equilibria in Regional Environmental Policies When Plant Locations are Endogenous," NBER Working Papers 4051, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Luz Amparo Saavedra, 2000. "Do Local Governments Engage In Strategic Property- Tax Competition," Borradores de Economia 2378, Banco de la Republica.
    15. Wallace E. Oates & Wallace E. Oates, 2004. "Fiscal Competition and European Union: Contrasting Perspectives," Chapters, in: Environmental Policy and Fiscal Federalism, chapter 10, pages 182-194, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    16. Henrik Kleven & Camille Landais & Mathilde Muñoz & Stefanie Stantcheva, 2020. "Taxation and Migration: Evidence and Policy Implications," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 34(2), pages 119-142, Spring.
    17. repec:hum:wpaper:sfb649dp2006-027 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Braid, Ralph M., 2005. "Tax competition, tax exporting and higher-government choice of tax instruments for local governments," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(9-10), pages 1789-1821, September.
    19. Amrita Dhillon & Myrna Wooders & Ben Zissimos, 2007. "Tax Competition Reconsidered," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 9(3), pages 391-423, June.
    20. Stephanie Armbruster & Beat Hintermann, 2020. "Decentralization with porous borders: public production in a federation with tax competition and spillovers," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 27(3), pages 606-642, June.
    21. Brueckner, Jan K. & Saavedra, Luz A., 2001. "Do Local Governments Engage in Strategic Property-Tax Competition?," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 54(2), pages 203-230, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Competition in law making; Asylum law; European law; Flexible law; Human rights;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • K33 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - International Law
    • H11 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Structure and Scope of Government
    • D61 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Allocative Efficiency; Cost-Benefit Analysis
    • D62 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Externalities

    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:hal:journl:hal-00447157. 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: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    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.