ABSTRACT
Summary: This chapter discusses immigration from a fiscal perspective in destination countries. It examines how much immigrants pay in taxes and receive in government benefits compared with natives of the destination country. Estimating the fiscal effect of immigration can be complicated, so the first part of the chapter addresses methodological and measurement issues. The chapter then presents estimates of the fiscal effect of immigration for the United States and other OECD countries. The last section provides an in-depth discussion of immigrants’ participation in four government-funded programs in the United States: welfare, education, health care and Social Security.
