Tuesday, 14 May 2019

Opening the floodgates: Immigration in the aftermath of the eastern enlargement

a column by Bernt Bratsberg, Andreas Moxnes, Oddbjørn Raaum and Karen-Helene Ulltveit-Moe for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal

In the aftermath of the eastern enlargement of the EU, Norway experienced one of the largest immigration shocks of the 21st century.

This column uses data from the episode to examine the general equilibrium response of wages, labour costs, and industry employment to such shocks. One finding is that although real wages in some occupations decline, the aggregate welfare effects on natives are close to zero as natives switch to higher-wage occupations.

The welfare effect on the existing population of immigrants, on the other hand, is negative as they have a comparative advantage in low-wage occupations.

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