voxThe economics of immigration amnesties

a column by Alessandra Casarico, Giovanni Facchini and Tommaso Frattini for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal

European countries have recently experienced an extraordinary inflow of asylum seekers.

Using a theoretical framework and US data, this column studies the key economic triggers which prompt policymakers to implement immigration legalisation programmes. It shows that the more restricted the occupational opportunities of undocumented immigrants and the smaller the fiscal leakage to undocumented immigrants via the welfare state, the more desirable an amnesty is.

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