Desirable Immigration Policy for Japan: Based on a survey of economic empirical analysis (Japanese)

Risa Hagiwara and Takanobu Nakajima

Discussion Papers (Japanese) from Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI)

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to survey research papers on the effects of immigrants to economies and consider a desirable policy for Japan, a country with an aging population due to a low birth rate. We have confirmed that immigrants with fluent language and high level skills can accelerate growth and stabilize a budgetary balance. This finding is consistent with the fact that many industrialized countries recently have introduced a "selective immigration policy," which requires a certain level of language ability, income, and skills from immigrants. This kind of policy, on the other hand, shows the egoism of immigrant countries: "Good Immigrants Only." In Japan, there is an opinion that stresses an urgent necessity to receive a number of immigrants who could fill the job vacancies of the labor-intensive service industries. The policy, based on such a myopic view, in no way leads to a solution because immigrants could become "Japanized" as long as the current social system remains unchanged. The desirable immigration policy for Japan should aim at a society of inter-culturalism, which accepts different cultures and makes use of their comparative advantages. This new paradigm would also promote the employment of women and physically and mentally challenged people.

Pages: 49 pages
Date: 2014-03
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eti:rdpsjp:14018

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