Has migration reduced economic inequality between the EU Member States? A cross-national analysis between 1980-2017


Dr. Magdalena Ulceluse, University of Groningen

This paper explores the effect that migration has had on economic inequality between the 28 EU member states, covering the period 1980-2017. The cross-national, longitudinal analysis demonstrates that migration has had a positive and significant effect on development and economic growth in the countries analysed. However, the findings also indicate that some countries have benefited from migration more than others. Specifically, in the case of the “old” member states the positive effect is disproportionately larger than for the newer member states, while for the EU10, the effect of migration has actually been negative. This seems to indicate that while migration has indeed contributed to economic growth in all member states, its effect has been that of rather reproducing the existing economic inequalities, or even exacerbate them.



About the speaker

Magdalena Ulceluse is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Groningen, where she researches the effect of migration on inequality. She has previously obtained a PhD in Public Policy from Central European University in Budapest and a MSc from the University of Maastricht/UNU-MERIT. She has worked on projects for the ILO, ESPON, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the European Commission, CEDEFOP and ISFOL, among others. Her main research interests lie in migration and inequality, immigration policies, immigrant integration, labour migration and migrant economic activities.



Venue: 0.16/0.17

Date: 21 November 2018

Time: 12:30 - 13:30  CET


UNU-MERIT