Eu Enlargement and the Future of the Welfare State
نویسنده
چکیده
The eastern expansion of the EU resembles German unification in its momentousness. Whereas the latter led to a 26% increase in the population of the Federal Republic, the former will increase the population of the EU by 28% if all ten entry aspirants are accepted. A special problem will be posed by migration. In view of the existing wage differences between eastern and western European countries, a massive westward migration can be expected after EU expansion. A temporary east-to-west migration up to the time that the eastern countries have created an efficient capital stock makes economic sense if it is driven by wage differences and meets with a flexible labour market. Migration does not make economic sense, however, if, and to the extent to which, it is induced by the current social assistance systems. Moreover, welfare-motivated migration would create competition among western European states to frighten off potential migrants, which would lead to an erosion of the traditional social welfare state. If the EU plan incorporated a limitation of the free movement of labour, the beneficial migration would also be stopped. A better solution would be to limit access to the western social systems, at least for a transitional period in order to filter out migration induced by differing social standards. An EU-wide application of the home-country principle in the granting of social benefits would achieve this goal. JEL Classification: F15, H53, H70, J61 Hans-Werner Sinn CESifo Poschingerstr. 5 81679 Munich Germany
منابع مشابه
Gerzensee (Switzerland) The analysis of welfare effects in INTIMO
This paper deals with the analysis of welfare effects for an EU member state brought by the Eastern enlargement of the EU. We will try to answer the traditional microeconomic question: “what amount of compensation would the consumers require in order to forego the change brought by the enlargement?” (...) The assessment of this point provided by our multisectoral model INTIMO is very detailed b...
متن کاملEastern Enlargement of the EU: A Comprehensive Welfare Assessment
This paper takes a welfare-view on eastern enlargement of the EU, focusing on incumbent countries. Enlargement is decomposed into three elements: Single-market integration on commodity markets, budgetary costs from EU-expenditure policies, and single-market-induced migration from new to present member countries. I first use an analytical model to derive a welfare equation that identifies the pr...
متن کاملThe Impact of EU’s Competition Laws on the Long-Term Gas Contracts
Competion laws follow varions goals including economic targets such as increase of economic efficiency and consumers' welfare. This branch of law has resisted against agreements and contracts which endanger the consumers' or public welfare and has tried to prevent such contracts and processes. European Union is among the greatest consumers and importer of energy in the world. The most part of t...
متن کاملThe Impact of Integration on International Trade Flows: the Cases of EU, OIC & ECO
The growth of regional trade blocks has been one of the major developments in international relations in recent years. Regional agreements vary widely but, all have the objective of reducing barriers to trade between member countries that in most cases result in increasingly trade flows and economic growth. This paper attempts to explore the results of trade integration in ECO, EU and OIC block...
متن کاملذخیره در منابع من
با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید
عنوان ژورنال:
دوره شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 2000