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1. Factsheet: Herbert Kickl

Author:
Bridge Initiative Team
Publication Date:
10-2024
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Bridge Initiative, Georgetown University
Abstract:
Herbert Kickl is the current leader of the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), one of Austria’s major political parties that has shared power in various coalitions over the past three decades. It regained power, especially after mobilizing against immigrants and Muslims and is one of the main factors in the institutionalization of Islamophobia in Austria with many links to far-right anti-Muslim actors around the globe. Kickl invented the most successful anti-Muslim political campaigns of his party with slogans such as “Home, not Islam” (Daham statt Islam). Together with Viktor Orbán, Kickl established the Patriots for Europe (PfE or Patriots), the new far-right political group in the European Parliament, which has become the third-largest group ahead of the tenth European Parliament (2024-2029).
Topic:
Immigrants, Islamophobia, Far Right, Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ), and Herbert Kickl
Political Geography:
Europe and Austria

2. Monopsony, Efficiency, and the Regularization of Undocumented Immigrants

Author:
George J. Borjas and Anthony Edo
Publication Date:
07-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre d'Etudes Prospectives et d'Informations Internationales (CEPII)
Abstract:
In May 1981, President François Mitterrand regularized the status of undocumented immigrant workers in France. The newly legalized immigrants represented 12 percent of the non-French workforce and about 1 percent of all workers. Employers have monopsony power over undocumented workers because the undocumented may find it costly to participate in the open labor market and have restricted economic opportunities. By alleviating this labor market imperfection, a regularization program can move the market closer to the efficient competitive equilibrium and potentially increase employment and wages for both the newly legalized and the authorized workforce. Our empirical analysis reveals that the Mitterrand regularization program particularly increased employment and wages for low-skill native and immigrant men, and raised French GDP by over 1 percent.
Topic:
Immigrants, Labor Market, Undocumented Population, Monopsony, and Regularization
Political Geography:
Europe, France, and Global Focus

3. Promoting Evidence-Informed Immigrant Integration Policymaking

Author:
Jasmijn Slootjes
Publication Date:
10-2022
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Migration Policy Institute (MPI)
Abstract:
Across Europe, immigrant integration policy has often been forged in the heat of crisis and driven by political priorities. This can be seen in the response to millions of people fleeing war in Ukraine and to the 2015–16 migration and refugee crisis. Resources and attention are much less frequently devoted to gleaning lessons from integration initiatives and using them to improve policymaking going forward. Yet, pressing labor shortages, strained government budgets, and social cohesion challenges all point to the importance of implementing integration policies that efficiently use limited resources—and that work. This policy brief explores why immigrant integration has fallen behind other policy areas in embracing an evidence culture and suggests ways to remedy this lag. It first examines recent progress and key gaps in this area, and then maps the obstacles that continue to hinder an evidence revolution in integration policy. The brief concludes with recommendations for creating an environment in which evidence-informed integration policymaking can thrive, including through the effective use of pilot projects, targeted funding, stakeholder engagement, and capacity-building initiatives.
Topic:
Migration, Law, European Union, Immigrants, Integration, and Immigration Policy
Political Geography:
Europe

4. Putting Migrant Reintegration Programs to the Test: A Road Map to a Monitoring System

Author:
Lucía Salgado, Radu-Mihai Triculescu, Camille Le Coz, and Hanne Beirens
Publication Date:
01-2022
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Migration Policy Institute (MPI)
Abstract:
European policymakers have renewed their commitment to increase returns of migrants determined not to have a right to stay in the European Union, and to cooperate with returnees’ countries of origin to support their reintegration. And as investments in assisted voluntary return and reintegration (AVRR) initiatives have grown, so too has pressure to demonstrate that these programs are living up to the high expectations for them. Yet there is little clarity, let alone consensus, on what “successful” reintegration is or how best to achieve it. This MPI Europe report examines what is and is not known about returnees' economic, psychosocial, and social reintegration. It also discusses the need to build and strengthen monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems to help address pressing knowledge gaps, track the impact of AVRR investments, and inform program decision-making. To do so, it lays out a set of guiding principles and explores key questions about the design, ownership, funding, and impact of M&E efforts.
Topic:
International Cooperation, Governance, Border Control, European Union, Immigrants, Deportation, Immigration Policy, and Illegal Immigration
Political Geography:
Europe

5. Second-generation immigrants and native attitudes toward immigrants in Europe

Author:
Oscar Barrera, Isabelle Bensidoun, and Anthony Edo
Publication Date:
06-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre d'Etudes Prospectives et d'Informations Internationales (CEPII)
Abstract:
This paper investigates the role played by immigrants and their children in shaping native attitudes toward immigrants in the European Union. By exploiting the 2017 Special Eurobarometer on immigrant integration, we show that countries with a relatively high share of immigrants are more likely to believe that immigrants are a burden on the welfare system and worsen crime. In contrast, native opinions on the impact of immigration on culture and the labor market are unrelated to the presence of immigrants. We also find that the effects of second-generation immigrants on pro-immigrant attitudes toward security and fiscal concerns are positive (as opposed to first-generation immigrants). Finally, we find no impact of the immigrant share on the attitudes of natives supporting far-left or left political parties, while it is the most negative among respondents affiliated with far-right parties.
Topic:
Children, European Union, Immigrants, Ideology, Welfare, and Nativism
Political Geography:
Europe

6. The Usual Suspects: Offender Origin, Media Reporting and Natives’ Attitudes Towards Immigration

Author:
Sekou Keita, Thomas Renault, and Jerome Valette
Publication Date:
10-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre d'Etudes Prospectives et d'Informations Internationales (CEPII)
Abstract:
This paper analyses whether the systematic disclosure of criminals’ origins in the press affects natives’ attitudes towards immigration. It takes advantage of the unilateral change in reporting policy announced by the German newspaper Sächsische Zeitung in July, 2016. Combining individual-level panel data from the German Socio-Economic Panel from 2014 to 2018 with 402,819 crime-related articles in German newspapers and those newspapers’ market shares, we find that systematically mentioning the origins of criminals increases the relative salience of natives’ criminality and reduces natives’ concerns about immigration, breaking the implicit link between immigration and crime.
Topic:
Media, Immigrants, Discrimination, and Nativism
Political Geography:
Europe and Germany

7. Skilled Immigration, Task Allocation and the Innovation of Firms

Author:
Anna Maria Mayda, Gianluca Orefice, and Gianluca Santoni
Publication Date:
11-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre d'Etudes Prospectives et d'Informations Internationales (CEPII)
Abstract:
This paper analyses the impact of skilled migrants on the innovation (patenting) activity of French firms between 1995 and 2010, and investigates the underlying mechanism. We present district-level and firm-level estimates and address endogeneity using a modified version of the shift-share instrument. Skilled migrants increase the number of patents at both the district and firm level. Large, high-productivity and capital-intensive firms benefit the most, in terms of innovation activity, from skilled immigrant workers. Importantly, we provide evidence that one channel through which the effect works is task specialization (as in Peri and Sparber, 2009). The arrival of skilled immigrants drives French skilled workers towards language-intensive, managerial tasks while foreign skilled workers specialize in technical, research-oriented tasks. This mechanism manifests itself in the estimated increase in the share of foreign inventors in patenting teams as a consequence of skilled migration. Through this channel, greater innovation is the result of productivity gains from specialization.
Topic:
Business, Immigrants, Innovation, and Skilled Labor
Political Geography:
Europe and France

8. Taking the Long View: Options for Inclusive Post-Pandemic Labor Markets

Author:
Liam Patuzzi
Publication Date:
08-2021
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Migration Policy Institute (MPI)
Abstract:
The COVID-19 pandemic has ushered in harsh effects across European economies, and uncertainty persists even as vaccination campaigns have picked up speed. EU governments’ prompt investments in historically large job retention measures have temporarily cushioned the pandemic’s blow to labor markets, but this also means that the full impact is yet to be felt. What is clear, however, is that the crisis has exacerbated the labor market challenges some immigrant groups, such as recently arrived refugees and migrant women, were facing even before the pandemic began. Among the contributing factors are immigrants’ overrepresentation in hard-hit sectors, precarious work arrangements (such as part-time contracts and gig work), difficulties accessing social benefits, and some countries’ temporary suspension of integration supports. This MPI Europe report explores how the pandemic has affected immigrant workers thus far and how labor market trends such as automation, remote work, and the growth of the platform economy may affect migrant integration as European economies begin to recover. It also presents policy ideas and recommendations for crafting inclusive pandemic recovery strategies.
Topic:
Education, Employment, Refugees, Economy, Immigrants, COVID-19, and Labor Market
Political Geography:
Europe

9. Healing the Gap: Building Inclusive Public-Health and Migrant Integration Systems in Europe

Author:
Jasmijn Slootjes
Publication Date:
09-2021
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Migration Policy Institute (MPI)
Abstract:
The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed European health-care systems to their limits, as millions of Europeans have fallen ill and hundreds of thousands have died from the virus. But these harms have not been felt evenly. Immigrants and refugees have had disproportionately high risks of infection and mortality, in part due to frontline and close-proximity jobs. This uneven impact has drawn increased attention to factors that have long created vulnerabilities for migrants across the health continuum, including greater exposure to drivers of ill health (such as low income and poor housing) and barriers to accessing health services. There is also a close link between migrant health and integration, as health problems may prevent immigrants from completing integration courses, from finding or maintaining employment, and from participating fully in their communities. Ensuring that health disparities are addressed and do not become long-term barriers to integration thus promises to foster more inclusive societies in addition to its benefits for individuals, families, and public health. This report examines the impact of the pandemic on Europe’s migrant populations and how European governments and nongovernmental actors have responded, including with initiatives to improve health-care accessibility. It situates this discussion within a broader look at how the migrant health policy field has grown since the early 2000s, and how trends that have emerged during the COVID-19 crisis may further shape this policy area.
Topic:
Refugees, Immigrants, Public Health, Integration, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
Europe

10. Ulysses Syndrome: Immigrant Limit Stress / El Síndrome de Ulises: el estrés límite del inmigrante

Author:
Juan Carlos Fernández-Rodríguez, Neidy Zenaida Domínguez Pineda, and Fernando Miralles Muñoz
Publication Date:
05-2020
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal on International Security Studies (RESI)
Institution:
International Security Studies Group (GESI) at the University of Granada
Abstract:
In the development of this work, a presentation has been made of the current conditions that can be found in the migratory process and that have the possibility of giving rise to the appearance of the so-called Ulysses Syndrome or Limit Stress Syndrome, in the immigrant population. In this article, special reference is made to the conditions that can be found today in our country, quantitative data are offered that can form a very approximate idea of ​​the enormous magnitude and importance of this migratory phenomenon. Next, a description of the characteristics of the so-called Ulysses Syndrome or Immigrant Syndrome with Chronic and Multiple Stress has been made. In the development of this work, these main characteristics have been shown, with special emphasis on the appearance of a mourning process and on the stress that Ulysses Syndrome can entail. Likewise, the different areas of personal functioning that may be impaired in immigrants and their similarity to a process of mourning (with the possibility of up to seven different types of mourning) have been commented, mainly due to the different personal issues and the different social factors that immigrants leave in their various countries of origin. Next, the symptoms of Ulysses Syndrome are described and the different areas of involvement of people suffering from this disorder are also described. Lastly, a brief reference is made to the possible therapeutic intervention in people affected by the problems described, both if they are in an adult age or if they are in a young infantile age. As it cannot be otherwise, the Syndrome requires preventive intervention, both at the individual and community level.
Topic:
Migration, Immigrants, and Stress
Political Geography:
Europe and Global Focus