IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/jku/econwp/2004_09.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The fiscal impact of immigrants in Austria--a generational accounting analysis

Author

Abstract

In this paper, we employ generational accounting to analyse the inter-temporal stance of Austrian public finance in 1998 as well as the inter-temporal fiscal impact of immigration to Austria. Immigrants affect inter-temporal fiscal balance in essentially two ways. Firstly, they have a demographic effect in enlarging the population (and thus the tax base) and in altering its age- (and gender-) composition. Secondly, they change the fiscal characteristics of age cohorts due to a representative immigrant exhibiting higher or lower tax and transfer payments than a representative native of the same age and gender. The overall fiscal effect of immigration is found positive, under the assumption that the age and fiscal characteristics of future immigrants resemble those of the current immigrant population in Austria. This is due to a favourable age composition and lower per capita net transfer receipts during retirement age, which compensates for lower per capita net tax payments during working age. However, immigration is not likely to achieve inter-temporal fiscal balance, even if immigration increases or migrants are screened by skill or age.

Suggested Citation

  • Karin Mayr, 2004. "The fiscal impact of immigrants in Austria--a generational accounting analysis," Economics working papers 2004-09, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
  • Handle: RePEc:jku:econwp:2004_09
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.econ.jku.at/papers/2004/wp0409.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kjetil Storesletten, 2000. "Sustaining Fiscal Policy through Immigration," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(2), pages 300-323, April.
    2. Christian Keuschnigg & Mirela Keuschnigg & Reinhard Koman & Erik Lüth & Bernd Raffelüschen, 2000. "Public Debt and Generational Balance in Austria," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 27(3), pages 225-252, September.
    3. Alan Auerbach & Bruce Baker & Laurence Kotlikoff & Jan Walliser, 1997. "Generational Accounting in New Zealand: Is There Generational Balance?," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 4(2), pages 201-228, May.
    4. Alan J. Auerbach & Jagadeesh Gokhale & Laurence J. Kotlikoff, 1991. "Generational Accounts: A Meaningful Alternative to Deficit Accounting," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 5, pages 55-110, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Torun Österberg & Björn Gustafsson, 2001. "Immigrants and the public sector budget - accounting exercises for Sweden," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 14(4), pages 689-708.
    6. Laurence J. Kotlikoff & Willi Leibfritz & Willi Leibfritz, 1999. "An International Comparison of Generational Accounts," NBER Chapters, in: Generational Accounting around the World, pages 73-102, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Alan J. Auerbach & Jagadeesh Gokhale & Laurence J. Kotlikoff, 1992. "Social Security and Medicare Policy from the Perspective of Generational Accounting," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 6, pages 129-145, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Alan J. Auerbach & Philip Oreopoulos, 1999. "Generational Accounting and Immigration in the United States," NBER Working Papers 7041, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Holger Bonin & Bernd Raffelhüschen & Jan Walliser, 2000. "Can Immigration Alleviate the Demographic Burden?," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 57(1), pages 1-21, September.
    10. Alan J. Auerbach & Jagadeesh Gokhale & Laurence J. Kotlikoff, 1994. "Generational Accounting: A Meaningful Way to Evaluate Fiscal Policy," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 8(1), pages 73-94, Winter.
    11. Laurence J. Kotlikoff & Laurence J. Kotlikoff & Willi Leibfritz, 1999. "From Deficit Delusion to the Fiscal Balance Rule: Looking for an Economically Meaningful Way to Assess Fiscal Policy," NBER Chapters, in: Generational Accounting around the World, pages 9-30, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Razin, Assaf & Sadka, Efraim, 1995. "Resisting Migration: Wage Rigidity and Income Distribution," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(2), pages 312-316, May.
    13. Bernd Raffelhuschen, 1999. "Generational Accounting in Europe," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 167-170, May.
    14. Bernd Raffelhuschen & Laurence J. Kotlikoff, 1999. "Generational Accounting around the Globe," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 161-166, May.
    15. Kotlikoff, Laurence J., 2002. "Generational policy," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 27, pages 1873-1932, Elsevier.
    16. Ather H. Akbari, 1989. "The Benefits of Immigrants to Canada: Evidence on Tax and Public Services," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 15(4), pages 424-435, December.
    17. Cardarelli, Roberto & Sefton, James & Kotlikoff, Laurence J, 2000. "Generational Accounting in the UK," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 110(467), pages 547-574, November.
    18. Raffelhuschen, B., 1999. "Generational Accounting in Europe," Norway; Department of Economics, University of Bergen 196, Department of Economics, University of Bergen.
    19. Jagadeesh Gokhale & Bernd Raffelhuschen & Jan Walliser, 1994. "The burden of German unification: a generational accounting approach," Working Papers (Old Series) 9412, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
    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. Murat G. Kirdar, 2012. "Estimating The Impact Of Immigrants On The Host Country Social Security System When Return Migration Is An Endogenous Choice," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 53(2), pages 453-486, May.
    2. Xavier Chojnicki, 2013. "The Fiscal Impact of Immigration in France: A Generational Accounting Approach," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(8), pages 1065-1090, August.

    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. Alan J. Auerbach & Young Jun Chun & Ilho Yoo, 2005. "The Fiscal Burden of Korean Reunification: A Generational Accounting Approach," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 61(1), pages 62-97, March.
    2. Paweł Kaczmarczyk, 2013. "Are immigrants a burden for the state budget? Review paper," RSCAS Working Papers 2013/79, European University Institute.
    3. Damla Haciibrahimoglu & Pinar Derin-Gure, 2013. "Generational Accounting in Turkey," ERC Working Papers 1301, ERC - Economic Research Center, Middle East Technical University, revised Jan 2013.
    4. Kamil Dybczak, 2006. "Generational Accounts in the Czech Republic," Working Papers 2006/2, Czech National Bank.
    5. Holger Bonin, 2002. "Eine fiskalische Gesamtbilanz der Zuwanderung nach Deutschland," Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung / Quarterly Journal of Economic Research, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 71(2), pages 215-229.
    6. Hans Fehr & Laurence J. Kotlikoff & Willi Leibfritz, 1999. "Generational Accounting in General Equilibrium," NBER Chapters, in: Generational Accounting around the World, pages 43-72, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Alan Auerbach & Bruce Baker & Laurence Kotlikoff & Jan Walliser, 1997. "Generational Accounting in New Zealand: Is There Generational Balance?," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 4(2), pages 201-228, May.
    8. Karin Mayr, 2005. "The Fiscal Impact of Immigrants in Austria – A Generational Accounting Analysis," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 32(2), pages 181-216, June.
    9. Feist, Karen & Krimmer, Pascal & Raffelhüschen, Bernd, 2001. "Intergenerative Effekte einer lebenszyklusorientierten Einkommensteuerreform: Die Einfachsteuer des Heidelberger Steuerkreises," Discussion Papers 98, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Institut für Finanzwissenschaft.
    10. Krimmer, Pascal & Raffelhüschen, Bernd, 2003. "Intergenerative Umverteilung und Wachstumsimpulse der Steuerreformen 1999 bis 2005: Die Perspektive der Generationenbilanz," Discussion Papers 105, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Institut für Finanzwissenschaft.
    11. Raffelhüschen, Bernd & Hagist, Christian & Moog, Stefan, 2008. "Ehrbarer Staat? Die Generationenbilanz. Update 2008: Migration und Nachhaltigkeit," Argumente zur Marktwirtschaft und Politik 103, Stiftung Marktwirtschaft / The Market Economy Foundation, Berlin.
    12. Hagist, Christian & Moog, Stefan & Raffelhüschen, Bernd, 2008. "Ehrbarer Staat? Die Generationenbilanz - Update 2008: Migration und Nachhaltigkeit," FZG Discussion Papers 30, University of Freiburg, Research Center for Generational Contracts (FZG).
    13. Veronika Deeg & Christian Hagist & Stefan Moog, 2009. "The fiscal outlook in Austria: an evaluation with Generational Accounts," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 36(4), pages 475-499, November.
    14. Shimasawa, Manabu & Oguro, Kazumasa & Masujima, Minoru, 2014. "Population Aging, Policy Reforms, and Lifetime Net Tax Rate in Japan: A Generational Accounting Approach," CIS Discussion paper series 625, Center for Intergenerational Studies, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    15. Álvaro Forteza, 2007. "Efectos Distributivos de la Reforma de la Seguridad Social. El Caso Uruguayo," Latin American Journal of Economics-formerly Cuadernos de Economía, Instituto de Economía. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile., vol. 44(129), pages 31-58.
    16. Kotlikoff, Laurence J., 2002. "Generational policy," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 27, pages 1873-1932, Elsevier.
    17. Auerbach, Alan J. & Chun, Young Jun, 2006. "Generational accounting in Korea," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 234-268, June.
    18. Jagadeesh Gokhale & Bernd Raffelhüschen, 2000. "Population Aging and Fiscal Policy in Europe and the United States," CESifo Working Paper Series 237, CESifo.
    19. Raffelhüschen, Bernd & Hagist, Christian & Moog, Stefan & Vatter, Johannes, 2009. "Ehrbare Staaten? Die deutsche Generationenbilanz im internationalen Vergleich," Argumente zur Marktwirtschaft und Politik 107, Stiftung Marktwirtschaft / The Market Economy Foundation, Berlin.
    20. Fullerton, Don & Metcalf, Gilbert E., 2002. "Tax incidence," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 26, pages 1787-1872, Elsevier.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    immigration; generational accounting; fiscal imbalance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • H61 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt - - - Budget; Budget Systems
    • E66 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - General Outlook and Conditions

    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:jku:econwp:2004_09. 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: René Böheim (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vlinzat.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.