Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Liberalization of European migration and the immigration of skilled people to Sweden

Ejermo, Olof LU and Zheng, Yannu LU (2018) In IZA journal of development and migration 8(5).
Abstract
Migration policies can have a strong impact on the selection of immigrants, who in turn can affect the host country’s innovation development. This paper examines the effects of the liberalization of migration on the skill composition of immigrants from the EU-15 to Sweden after the inception of the European Economic Area (EEA) in 1994. We examine its effect on immigrants’ education levels and probability of becoming an inventor, comparing immigrants from the EU-15 with those from other developed regions in difference-in-differences regressions. The results show that the liberalization of migration had a negative effect on the educational profile of new EU-15 immigrants in the short run, but there is no such effect in the long run.... (More)
Migration policies can have a strong impact on the selection of immigrants, who in turn can affect the host country’s innovation development. This paper examines the effects of the liberalization of migration on the skill composition of immigrants from the EU-15 to Sweden after the inception of the European Economic Area (EEA) in 1994. We examine its effect on immigrants’ education levels and probability of becoming an inventor, comparing immigrants from the EU-15 with those from other developed regions in difference-in-differences regressions. The results show that the liberalization of migration had a negative effect on the educational profile of new EU-15 immigrants in the short run, but there is no such effect in the long run. Moreover, the liberalization of migration has no systematic effect on the EU-15 immigrants’ probability of becoming an inventor in neither the short nor the long run. These patterns are consistent with the theoretical implication that reduction in migration costs associated with the EEA mainly stimulated migration from the lower end of the education distribution. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
human capital, immigration, innovation, selection, skill level, J15, J24, N30, O31
in
IZA journal of development and migration
volume
8
issue
5
pages
25 pages
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • scopus:85043488934
ISSN
2520-1786
DOI
10.1186/s40176-017-0111-5
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
f8d8ab2f-15e1-4a0c-b9f6-d9ede6ad80a4
date added to LUP
2018-03-09 14:34:30
date last changed
2024-01-14 16:38:14
@article{f8d8ab2f-15e1-4a0c-b9f6-d9ede6ad80a4,
  abstract     = {{Migration policies can have a strong impact on the selection of immigrants, who in turn can affect the host country’s innovation development. This paper examines the effects of the liberalization of migration on the skill composition of immigrants from the EU-15 to Sweden after the inception of the European Economic Area (EEA) in 1994. We examine its effect on immigrants’ education levels and probability of becoming an inventor, comparing immigrants from the EU-15 with those from other developed regions in difference-in-differences regressions. The results show that the liberalization of migration had a negative effect on the educational profile of new EU-15 immigrants in the short run, but there is no such effect in the long run. Moreover, the liberalization of migration has no systematic effect on the EU-15 immigrants’ probability of becoming an inventor in neither the short nor the long run. These patterns are consistent with the theoretical implication that reduction in migration costs associated with the EEA mainly stimulated migration from the lower end of the education distribution.}},
  author       = {{Ejermo, Olof and Zheng, Yannu}},
  issn         = {{2520-1786}},
  keywords     = {{human capital; immigration; innovation; selection; skill level; J15; J24; N30; O31}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{03}},
  number       = {{5}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{IZA journal of development and migration}},
  title        = {{Liberalization of European migration and the immigration of skilled people to Sweden}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/39801784/s40176_017_0111_5.pdf}},
  doi          = {{10.1186/s40176-017-0111-5}},
  volume       = {{8}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}