Abstract

This paper surveys recent empirical studies on the economic impacts of immigration. The survey Örst examines the magnitude of immigration as an economic phenomenon in various host countries. The second part deals with the assimilation of immigrant workers into host-country labor markets and concomitant e§ects for natives. The paper then turns to immigrationís impact for the public Önances of host countries. The Önal section considers emerging topics in the study of immigration. The survey particularly emphasizes the recent experiences of Northern Europe and Scandinavia and relevant lessons from traditional destination countries like the US.

Conclusion of first part.

The displacement literature is vast, and this paper has only touched on major points. The large majority of studies suggest that immigration does not exert signiÖcant e§ects on native labor market outcomes. Even large, sudden ináows of immigrants were not found to reduce native wages or employment signiÖcantly