Migration Creation and Diversion in the European Union: Is Central and Eastern Europe a ‘Natural’ Member of the Single Market for Labour?

Abstract

This article applies the concepts of trade creation and trade diversion to immigration into the EU-15 in order to investigate whether during 1986-2006 there were any significant preference effects in favour of the CEECs (central and eastern European countries) that make them 'natural' members of the EU single market for labour. If this hypothesis is true, there should have been strong migration creation but little migration diversion in the last 20 years. The results broadly support migration creation for the CEECs prior to their EU membership. At the same time, the evidence of diversion away from other world regions is mixed. The combined impact of a common language and established communities, compared to distance and a common border, may contribute to the preservation of migration channels from outside Europe. Within Europe, to be an EU outsider can have a negative impact on migration channels. Moreover, whilst liberal immigration policies increase immigration contemporaneously, restrictive immigration policies only show an impact with a two-year lag.

Building entrepreneurial potential abroad – exploring return migrant experience

“…This argument is also supported by 46.3% of respondents coming up with an idea to run own business while staying abroad. These findings also refer to the 'brain circulation' argument (Zaiceva and Zimmerman, 2012;Marques, 2010) suggesting an important role of migrants in building an entrepreneurial society in the transnational context. Undoubtedly, returnee migrants made use of their human capital developed in the home country while working abroad.…”

Regional Labor Mobility in Finland

“…Also, they find that the Schengen Agreement and the euro significantly raised the international mobility of workers. Finally, Marques (2010) and Pytliková (2014) study migration from "new" to "old" EU Member States. They also report significant effects of distance, income differentials, common language, and pre-existing migrant community.…”

Immigration, Globalization, and Unemployment Benefits in Developed EU States

“…1 1 This “push and pull” literature on international immigration asserts that immigrants react to economic incentives created by income gaps (Borjas 1995). Immigrants move from low‐income countries to high‐income countries with social welfare policies acting as a possible “pulling” mechanism (Marques 2010). Empirical evidence for this classic “pull” argument has been somewhat lacking, with Castles and Miller (2003) and Feld (2005) finding that immigrants respond more directly to labor market demands, rather than welfare provisions.…”