Immigration, Search, and Redistribution: A Quantitative Assessment of Native Welfare

2014/05/01 by Michèle Battisti, Gabriel Felbermayr, Giovanni Peri +1 · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Migration and Labor Dynamics

paper · pdf · doi:10.3386/w20131

openalex publication_date 2014/05/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04

Abstract

We study the effects of immigration on native welfare in a general equilibrium model featuring two skill types, search frictions, wage bargaining, and a redistributive welfare state. Our quantitative analysis suggests that, in all 20 countries studied, immigration attenuates the effects of search frictions. These gains tend to outweigh the welfare costs of redistribution. Immigration has increased native welfare in almost all countries. Both high-skilled and low-skilled natives benefit in two thirds of countries, contrary to what models without search frictions predict. Median total gains from migration are 1.19% and 1.00% for high and low skilled natives, respectively.

Citations

• Looking into the Black Box: A Survey of the Matching Function
• Migration and imperfect labor markets: Theory and cross-country evidence from Denmark, Germany and the UK
• The Labor Demand Curve is Downward Sloping: Reexamining the Impact of Immigration on the Labor Market

Cited by

• Immigration to the United States [wikipedia]