Ira Gang
Rutgers University
Department of Economics
E-mail: gang@economics.rutgers.edu

Item Number:  [J27]
Title: Labor Market Effects of Immigration in the United States and Europe: Substitution vs. Complementarity
Abstract: This paper examines the impact of different immigrants on the income of various groups of resident workers in the United States and Europe.  Our approach features the use of a production technology incorporating education, experience, and unskilled labor as inputs ── this contrasts with the assumption found in earlier studies that native-born and immigrant labor are distinct inputs into production. We find, in both U.S. and European production, education, unskilled labor and experience are complementary inputs. Based on these results, simulations of the impact of immigration on residents are carried out. The absolute magnitude of these effects is very small.

Reference:  Ira N. Gang and Francisco Rivera-Batiz, Labor Market Effects of Immigration in the United States and Europe: Substitution vs. Complementarity,Journal of Population Economics, 7 (1994) 157-175.  Reprinted in Klaus F. Zimmermann and Thomas Bauer, eds, Economics of Migration, Edward Elgar Pub., forthcoming, in Series: International Library of Critical Writings in Economics, Series Editor Mark Blaug.

Co-Author Information:
Francisco Rivera-Batiz
Columbia University
E-Mail:  flr9@columbia.edu
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