Immigration is one of the most important policy debates. Often this topic appears to be related to concerns that immigrants harm the labor market prospects of natives.

According to Brian Bell, who examines whether poor market opportunities lead to migrant crime, "[t]he evidence, based on empirical studies of many countries, indicates that there is no simple link between immigration and crime, but legalizing the status of immigrants has beneficial effects on crime rates."

"Crucially, the evidence points to substantial differences in the impact on property crime, depending on the labor market opportunities of immigrant groups," Bell adds.

IZA World of Labor author James P. Smith has also looked at the taxpayer effects of immigration and concludes that: "in the long term, the effects are positive in the US and in several European countries, and strongly positive for better-educated immigrants, but negative in other areas and for poorly educated and illegal immigrants and refugees."

He adds that: "[t]he same calculations are needed for countries losing people by outmigration. High-skilled young immigrants who work provide the highest taxpayer benefits; allowing immigrants and their progeny to reside permanently provides a net benefit to society."

Read Brian Bell's full article: Crime and immigration

Read further articles on migration and ethnicity:

• Taxpayer effects of immigration by James P. Smith

• Anonymous job applications and hiring discrimination by Ulf Rinne

• The portability of social benefits across borders by Robert Holzmann 

• Intergenerational income persistence (Deutsch) by Jo Blanden

• Labor market consequences of the college boom around the world (Deutsch) by 
  Gustavo A. Yamada and Pablo Lavado

Visit the IZA World of Labor site for more concise, informative, evidence-based articles across the spectrum of labor economics.

All one-pagers are also available to read and download in German. Find out more.
 

One-pagers are now available in Spanish. Take a look at the Spanish key topics page.

From a policy perspective, there is concern that private charitable donations might be crowded out by comprehensive government spending. If people are only concerned with the total amount of welfare provided, they will treat government spending as a substitute for their own donations. In such a situation, an increase in government spending would result in a one-for-one decrease in private spending, or vice versa. 

Read the full commentary.

Have a specific labor market query? Get in touch with one of our designated Topic Spokespeople.

• AIRAANZ Conferences 2019 - Global Work, Quality Work February 14, Melbourne, Australia.
  The 33rd annual conference of the Association of Industrial Relations Academics of Australia and New Zealand (AIRAANZ) will be hosted by the School of Management at RMIT University, Melbourne.

• 3rd IZA Workshop on Gender and Family Economics, Joint with Universidad Adolfo Ibañez April 12 - April 13, Viña del Mar, Chile.
  The workshop will create a stimulating environment that will enable participants to engage in discussion and receive valuable feedback on pressing issues in gender- and family-related research and policy. 

• 9th ifo Dresden Workshop on Labor Economics and Social Policy May 16 - May 17, Dresden, Germany.
  The workshop aims to facilitate the networking of young scientists and to promote the exchange of their latest research across the range of labor economics, social policy, education economics, demography and migration. Policy relevant contributions, either theoretical or applied, are highly welcome. We particularly encourage PhD students to submit their latest research.