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The discussion about migration and the welfare state is hotly debated throughout the world. Does immigration improve or deteriorate welfare state provisions? Is the welfare state itself aggravating its problems by creating unwanted migration incentives? Does the international competition for the high skilled and the attempt to restrain the low skilled lead to a reduction in social protection? These questions are taken up in the recent book of Razin, Sadka and Suwankiri. This comprehensive approach analyses the intraand intergenerational components of the welfare state, each addressed first separately and later in combination. Also, the perspectives of both receiving and sending countries are considered. The book is organized in three parts along these different lines. A distinguishing feature of this work is its continuous political economy orientation. The interrelation of migration and intragenerational redistribution in the host country lies at the heart of Part I. Chapter 2 analyses the question how the size of welfare benefits affects the skill characteristics of immigrants. The authors consider two alternative migration policies: a free migration scenario without any skill requirements for immigrants and a restrictive regime where such requirements exist. As low skilled migrants are net beneficiaries from the welfare state and high skilled migrants are net contributors, free migration regimes should attract predominately low skilled immigration. Migration restrictions, however, should aim at attracting the high skilled and deterring the low skilled. This intuition is substantiated by a simple theoretical model and confirmed empirically by exploiting the difference between migration flows within and to the EU 15. Chapter 3 examines the relation between the skill composition of migrants and the generosity of the welfare state from the reverse angle. Natives’ incentives to maintain |
