Protective or counter-productive? European labor market institutions and the effect of immigrants on EU natives

'We estimate the effect of immigrant flows on native employment in Western Europe, and then ask whether the employment consequences of immigration vary with institutions that affect labor market flexibility. Reduced flexibility may protect natives from immigrant competition in the near term, but our theoretical framework suggests that reduced flexibility is likely to increase the negative impact of immigration on equilibrium employment. In models without interactions, OLS estimates for a panel of European countries in the 1980s and 1990s small, mostly negative immigration effects. To reduce bias from the possible endogeneity of immigration flows, we use the fact that many immigrants arriving after 1991 were refugees from the Balkan wars. An IV strategy based on variation in the number of immigrants from former Yugoslavia generates larger though mostly insignificant negative estimates. We then estimate models allowing interactions between the employment response to immigration and institutional characteristics including business entry costs. These results, limited to the sample of native men, generally suggest that reduced flexibility increases the negative impact of immigration. Many of the estimated interaction terms are significant, and imply a significant negative effect on employment in countries with restrictive institutions.' (author's abstract)Der Beitrag untersucht die Auswirkungen von Einwanderungsstroemen auf die einheimische Beschaeftigung in Westeuropa, wobei es insbesondere um die Frage geht, ob die Konsequenzen aus der Beschaeftigung von Einwanderern sich mit den Arbeitsmarkteinrichtungen veraendern, da diese die Flexibilitaet des Arbeitsmarktes beeinflussen. Verminderte Flexibilitaet vermag fuer Einheimische kurzfristigen Schutz vor konkurrierenden Einwanderern geben, jedoch die Theorie besagt, dass verminderte Flexibilitaet zu einer negativen Wirkung der Einwanderung auf das Gleichgewicht in der Beschaeftigung fuehrt. (ICCUeBERS)German title: Schuetzend oder kontraproduktiv? Europaeische Arbeitsmarktinstitutionen und die Auswirkungen von Einwanderung auf EU-BuergerAvailable from IAB-90-1EW0-202500 BM 115 / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman