Migration in an enlarged EU: A challenging solution?

Martin Kahanec and Klaus F. Zimmermann ()

No 7200, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: The 2004 and 2007 enlargements of the European Union were unprecedented in a number of economic and policy aspects. This essay provides a broad and in-depth account of the effects of the post-enlargement migration flows on the receiving as well as sending countries in three broader areas: labour markets, welfare systems, and growth and competitiveness. Our analysis of the available literature and empirical evidence shows that (i) EU enlargement had a significant impact on migration flows from new to old member states, (ii) restrictions applied in some of the countries did not stop migrants from coming but changed the composition of the immigrants, (iii) any negative effects in the labour market on wages or employment are hard to detect, (iv) post-enlargement migration contributes to growth prospects of the EU, (v) these immigrants are strongly attached to the labour market, and (vi) they are quite unlikely to be among welfare recipients. These findings point out the difficulties that restrictions on the free movement of workers bring about.

Keywords: EU Eastern enlargement; free movement of workers; migration; migration effects (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F22 J16 J61 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab, nep-ltv and nep-tra
Date: 2009-03
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations View citations in EconPapers (4) Track citations by RSS feed

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.cepr.org/pubs/dps/DP7200.asp (application/pdf)
CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org

Related works:
Working Paper: Migration in an enlarged EU: A challenging solution? (2009)
Working Paper: Migration in an Enlarged EU: A Challenging Solution? (2008)
Working Paper: Migration in an Enlarged EU: A Challenging Solution? (2008)
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: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:7200

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.cepr.org/pubs/dps/DP7200.asp

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers
Address: Centre for Economic Policy Research, 77 Bastwick Street, London EC1V 3PZ
Series data maintained by ().