The Welfare Magnet Hypothesis: Evidence from an Immigrant Welfare Scheme in Denmark

被引：34

作者：

Agersnap, Ole ^{[1
]}

Jensen, Amalie ^{[2
]}

Kleven, Henrik ^{[1
,3
]}

机构：

[1] Princeton Univ, Princeton, NJ 08544 USA

[2] Univ Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

[3] NBER, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA

来源：

AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW-INSIGHTS | 2020年 / 2卷 / 04期

关键词：

LOCATION CHOICES; MIGRATION;

D O I：

10.1257/aeri.20190510

中图分类号：

F [经济];

学科分类号：

02 ;

摘要：

We study the effects of welfare generosity on international migration using reforms of immigrant welfare benefits in Denmark. The first reform, implemented in 2002, lowered benefits for non-EU immigrants by about 50 percent, with no changes for natives or EU immigrants. The policy was later repealed and reintroduced. Based on a -quasi-experimental research design, we find sizable effects: the benefit reduction reduced the net flow of immigrants by about 5,000 people per year, and the subsequent repeal of the policy reversed the effect almost exactly. The implied elasticity of migration with respect to benefits equals 1.3. This represents some of the first causal evidence on the welfare magnet hypothesis.

引用

页码：527 / 542

页数：16

共 24 条

[1] Synthetic Control Methods for Comparative Case Studies: Estimating the Effect of California's Tobacco Control Program [J].