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

Joop Adema

No 302, I4R Discussion Paper Series from The Institute for Replication (I4R)

Abstract: Agersnap, Jensen and Kleven (2020) study the effect of changes in welfare benefit levels on immigration in Denmark, reporting a large migration elasticity of 1.3. However, their approach reports an illdefined net migration elasticity, conflates migration with migrant residents turning 30, and is sensitive to origin-country shocks. All of these exaggerate the size of the welfare magnet effect. Using an alternative approach that addresses these concerns, I find substantially lower migration elasticities: at most 0.28 for arrivals and 0.14 for stocks. Moreover, I find that lower benefits do not increase the average skill level of migrants.

JEL-codes: F22 H53 I38 J15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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