Comparative political economy and international migration

Abstract

This article provides an overview of the literature connecting comparative political economy and international migration in advanced industrialised countries with a focus on the relationship between labour migration, labour markets and welfare institutions. Immigration flows and policies are considered both as independent (how migration shapes capitalist institutions) and dependent variables (how migration flows and policies are shaped by capitalist institutions). First, we discuss the impact of international migration on labour market institutions, welfare states and skill production regimes. Second, we discuss how labour market institutions and welfare arrangements shape migrant inflows and migration policies, notably via the structuration of interests of employers, organised labour and governments. We emphasise the ideas of liberalisation, segmentation, substitution and complementarity to grasp the relationship between immigration and labour market institutions.

Commentary: A Citizenship without Social Rights? EU Freedom of Movement and Changing Access to Welfare Rights

“…The broadest frameworks conjoining immigration, welfare and political economy predict different outcomes, while not clearly differentiating, theoretically, freedom of movement (ie. in the EU legal context) from other forms of labour movement (Sainsbury, ; Afonso and Devitt, ). Applied work thus still finds differences concerning, for example, the so‐called “neo‐liberal” British case, for example, compared to Scandinavian or continental models: either in terms of public attitudes towards social citizenship driving political outcomes (Bruzelius et al, ) or the fact that more coordinated welfare state economies will be more generous (Römer, ).…”

Employer Organizations and Labour Immigration Policy in Australia and the United Kingdom: The Power of Political Salience and Social Institutional Legacies

“…While there has been much attention on employer organizations' industrial functions, such as their role in co-ordinating bargaining (Traxler 1999), changing labour market dynamics have diminished their industrial influence (Sheldon and Thornthwaite 1999). Although less applicable to states where employer organizations' regulatory role remains strong (Afonso 2012;Ibsen 2016), the prediction that business desire for greater labour market flexibility would erode employer organizations' traditional industrial functions (Streeck 1987) appears to have come to fruition in the liberal market economies. However, this has galvanized employer organizations' political function to lobby governments for policies facilitating this flexibility (Barry and Wilkinson 2011;Sheldon and Thornthwaite 1999).…”

“…Other scholars indicate that industries have characteristics independent of national systems, which generate distinct preferences (e.g. more liberal or more co-ordinated) among different groups of employers, for instance, between employers in trade-exposed versus nontradable sectors (Afonso 2012) or services versus manufacturing (Caviedes 2010). Regardless of whether the emphasis is placed on national or sectoral market institutions, common to these perspectives is a failure to account for situations where employer organization preferences are 'irrational' (Ibsen 2016), in that they do not align with prevailing market institutions.…”

“…Employer organizations' preferences in relation to labour market policies including labour immigration also differ according to market institutional factors including national regulations (Hall and Soskice 2001;Menz 2009) and sectoral dynamics (Caviedes 2010). While some accounts emphasize that employer preferences have diverse institutional foundations (Godard 2002), market forces that form the basis of competitive advantage are widely assumed to determine employer organization preferences (Afonso 2012;Culpepper 2011;Hall and Soskice 2001;Menz 2009). However, aside from some notable exceptions (e.g.…”

Migrant Workers or Working Women? Comparing Labour Supply Policies in Post-War Europe

“…The contribution of this article is embedded in the idea of "social policy by other means", looking at the functional connections between social policies and other policy domains (Seelkopf and Starke 2018). More specifically, it links the growing literature connecting immigration, employment and welfare (Afonso and Devitt 2016), and the gendered dimension of social policy (Lewis 1992;Sainsbury 1999). Rather than looking at alternatives to social protection, I look at another function of social policies, namely the structuring of the supply of workers in the labour market.…”