Does there exist welfare magnets? : Testing the effect of welfare benefits in the context of east-west European migration

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of welfare benefits on the east-west internal European migration. Based on the existing theoretical discussions, we present a migration model where welfare benefits stand amongst the key factors. Combing this with the compiled data from Eurostat, OECD and World Bank WDI, we conduct an empirical analysis afterwards on the migration flow from 12 “east” countries to 15 “west” countries during the period of 1992-2006. The results tend to indicate that generally speaking, the migration flow in the context of east-west internal European migration is determined by the regional differences in income or wages and in employment opportunity, by migration network, and by costs and risks rendered by language and distance. As to the effect of welfare benefits, the existence of welfare magnets seems to be supported to a certain extent, yet there finds certain implication that the impact does not stand robust.