Studying the Interplay of Immigration and Welfare States

Sammanfattning: A comparative study of net transfers for different immigrant groups: Evidence from GermanyThis paper analyzes determinants of net transfers for immigrants living in Germany in 2002, coming from five different countries. Net transfers refer to the net amount of costs and tax payments in the public budget account. The study focuses on differences/similarities between outcomes. The results suggest that employment situation and family composition explain a major part of the differences, but also that legal immigration status granted on arrival in Germany seem to matter.The impact of immigration on the size of government: Empirical evidence from Danish municipalitiesThis study examines whether the influx of immigrants of non-Western origin in Danish municipalities in the period from 1995 to 2001 affected the size of public spending. In the paper three measures of public expenditure are examined. The resulting regression estimates do not support those scholars who propose/predict a negative link between government spending and immigration in Western welfare states. On the contrary, an increase in the share of non-Western immigrants led to a small but significant increase in income tax payments. The impact of immigration on election outcomes in Danish municipalitiesIn this paper we study the effects of changes in the share of immigrants of non-Western origin in Danish municipalities on the support for different political parties in the period from 1989 to 2001. Regression estimations show that anti-immigration parties gained support as a reaction to a larger immigrant share, but so did also a pro-immigration party on the left. Our results point to that Danish citizens voice their displeasure over immigration within their neighborhoods; nevertheless, we do not find indications of a weakening of support for the welfare state as such, as predicted by several authors.