| dc.description.abstract | Is immigration a burden or a benefit to host countries? This issue can be studied by looking at how the economic components of the receiving country’s output are affected. Based on the methods of Ortega and Peri (2009) and Brücker et. al. (2012), this paper studies how yearly gross immigration flows and the share of tertiary educated immigrants in the yearly flow affect receiving economies. The estimation is year and country fixed effects regression on panel data for 17 OECD countries from 1985-2015. The results provide estimates for how GDP per capita, labour inputs, capital formation and TFP are affected in the short run, which are interpreted in a production function framework set in endogenous growth theory. Overall, the effects of immigration flows are consistent with the findings of Ortega and Peri (2009), and Brücker et al. (2012). The estimated effect on employment and capital formation is positive even in the short run, and capital intensity remains constant, implying no wage effect. Increasing the share of highly skilled immigrants raises the capital intensity in the receiving economy. Contrary to Ortega and Peri (2009), my findings cannot reject that a displacement of native workers might take place. In conclusion, the evidence points to a positive total effect. Higher capital intensity, and no effect on wages and productivity is consistent with a neoclassical growth model with endogenous capital accumulation. The effect on employment is ambiguous, but point to a positive trend, which could indicate the possibility of long term growth in the economy. | eng |