Not Just a Work Permit: EU Citizenship and the Consumption Behavior of Documented and Undocumented Immigrants

Effrosyni Adamopoulou and Ezgi Kaya

No 12642, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper explores the impact of the 2007 EU enlargement on the consumption behavior of immigrant households. Using data from a unique Italian survey and a diff-in-diff approach, we find that the enlargement induced a consumption increase for immigrants from new member states. This effect concerned both undocumented and documented immigrants, albeit through different channels. Detailed information on immigrants' legal status and sector of employment allows us to shed light on the exact mechanisms. Following the enlargement, previously undocumented immigrants experienced increases in labor income by moving away from the informal sector, whereas immigrants who were already working legally in Italy benefitted from an increased probability of getting permanent contracts. Enhanced employment stability in turn reduced uncertainty, leading to an increase in documented immigrants' consumption.

Keywords: (un)documented immigrants; informality; citizenship; consumption; work permit (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D12 E21 F22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 68 pages
Date: 2019-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur and nep-mac
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Published - published in: Canadian Journal of Economics, 2020, 53, 1552-1598

Downloads: (external link)
https://docs.iza.org/dp12642.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Not just a work permit: EU citizenship and the consumption behaviour of documented and undocumented immigrants (2020)
Working Paper: Not Just a Work Permit: EU Citizenship and the Consumption Behavior of Documented and Undocumented Immigrants (2019)
Working Paper: Not Just a Work Permit: EU Citizenship and the Consumption Behavior of Documented and Undocumented Immigrants (2019)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12642

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
IZA, Margard Ody, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) IZA, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Holger Hinte ().