TY  - JOUR
AU  - Razin,Assaf
AU  - Wahba,Jackline
TI  - Free vs. Controlled Migration: Bilateral Country Study
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 16831
PY  - 2011
Y2  - February 2011
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w16831
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w16831.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Assaf Razin
Department of Economics
Cornell University
Uris 422
Ithaca, NY 14853
Tel: 607/255-9625
Fax: 607/255-2818
E-Mail: ar256@cornell.edu

Jackline Wahba
Economics Division
School of Social Sciences
University of Southampton
Southampton, SO17 1BJ
United Kingdom
E-Mail: J.Wahba@soton.ac.uk
AB  - This paper tests the differential effects of the generosity of the welfare state under free migration and under policy-controlled migration, distinguishing between source developing and developed countries. We utilize free-movement within the EU to examine the free migration regime and compare that to immigration into the EU from two other groups, developed and developing source countries, to capture immigration-restricted regimes. We standardize cross-country education quality differences by using the Hanushek-Woessmann (2009) cognitive skills measure. We find strong support for the "Magnet Hypothesis" under the free-migration regime, and the "Fiscal Burden Hypothesis" under the immigration- restricted regime even after controlling for differences in returns to skills in source and host countries. We also find a significant differences across host-country  policy regimes in the effects of returns to skills on the skill mix of immigrants.
ER  -