ABSTRACT
Economists want the right answers for the right reason. Although economic considerations alone do not determine migration policies, they can play a critical part in policy-making from a double perspective. The static neo-classical model predicts that migration increases economic welfare, because labour can move to wherever its productivity is greatest and thus the income workers can attain is the highest. The problem with such a perception is that it does not take the distribution of the gains from free migration into account. First, the impacts of international migration will differ according to the level of aggregation. The effects of international migration on the employment situation in the area of emigration are generally perceived as positive. International migration can be seen as a safety valve for the sending countries’ surplus labour. Central to this point are the contributions of immigrants to social security and distribution systems and the amount of social security and welfare benefits migrants receive.
