Preston, Ι. (2014) “The effect of immigration on public finances“, VoxEU Organisation, 05 Νοεμβρίου.
Data on social attitudes show that the perceived burden of immigration on a nation’s public finances is one of the strongest economic concerns associated with hostility to immigration. Yet recent official reports suggest an important positive role for immigration in the long-run health of public finances. This column argues that there can be no general conclusions applicable in all circumstances about whether immigration is favourable or unfavourable for public finances. But evidence is emerging on particular cases through studies of immigrant composition and use of services, and the effects of immigration on native outcomes.
Much attention of researchers and policy-makers has been directed at the effects of immigration on the wages and employment of natives in the host country (for example, Friedberg and Hunt 1995; Manacorda et al 2012; Dustmann et al 2013). But most empirical studies have failed to find any convincing evidence of substantial negative impact. Data on social attitudes show that the perceived burden of immigration on public finances is a dimension of economic concern just as and perhaps more strongly associated with hostility to immigration, not only in the UK but across many countries (Card et al 2012; Dustmann and Preston 2006, 2007).
Such priority may well be economically justified: the burden or surplus generated through the effects of immigration on public finances may plausibly be regarded as a matter of prime importance. Press coverage in the UK and elsewhere reflects this with immigrants’ use of public services an easy focus of concern. Yet recent reports – by the UK’s Office for Budget Responsibility (2013) and the OECD (2013), for example – have also directed attention towards an important positive role for immigration in the long-run health of public finances.
A proper understanding of such effects is both an important input into decision-making on immigration policy and a necessary concomitant to planning for its implications.
Research suggests that there is no simple and general answer, applicable in all circumstances, to the size and direction of the effect of immigration in this respect (Preston 2014). Immigrants contribute through payment of taxes at the same time as they draw on public finances through consumption of publicly provided goods and services. Immigrants differ from native-born residents in demographic type, in skills and in social customs and consequently both groups pay different taxes and impose differently on public services.
Σχετικές αναρτήσεις:
- Bloomberg Editors (2014) “Europe’s Deadly Fiscal Paralysis“, Bloomberg View, 31 Οκτωβρίου.
- Dedieu, J. P. (2014) “Greece, a front line for state-sponsored racism in Europe“, AlJazeera America, 29 Σεπτεμβρίου.
- Pascouau, Y. (2014) “The European Council’s strategic guidelines and immigration: can the EU be bold and innovative?“, European Policy Centre Commentary, 25 Ιουνίου.