Immigration and social assistance: Evidence from the Norwegian welfare state

In Norway, immigrants receive higher levels of social assistance than natives. How can we explain this difference? After controlling for differences in take-up rates through a two-step Heckman procedure, attempt to answer question by exploiting rich data from administrative registers. We operationalise the Norwegian context employing composite variable that includes: (a) financial assistance, (b) housing allowance and (c) qualification benefit. quantitatively analyze difference benefit between first second generations benchmark non-immigrant population Kitagawa-Oaxaca-Blinder (KOB) decomposition exercise. The results analysis indicate significant portion gap reception immigrant groups natives is due observable characteristics (42% 69% their descendants), with unobservable cultural behavioural factors explaining remaining gap.