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141. Costs and Benefits of Labour Mobility between the EU and the Eastern Partnership Partner Countries. Country report: Moldova

Author:
Georgeta Mincu and Vasile Cantarji
Publication Date:
09-2013
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Center for Social and Economic Research - CASE
Abstract:
This Report is one of six studies in the first phase of the EU project on “Costs and Benefits of Labour Mobility between the EU and the Eastern Partnership Partner Countries.” It aims to provide an informed view on the potential for increased migration flows and their consequences as a result of possible changes in the migration policies of the European Union with regard to Moldova. Since Moldova’s Declaration of Independence in 1990, migration has transformed the country in ways that were impossible to predict. With over a quarter of its labour force now working abroad (a full ten percent of its population), Moldova has become the epitome of a migration-dependent country, with all the costs and benefits associated with this definition. Remittances are as high as one-third of national income, and have helped the country raise its living standards and fuel investment in housing and small businesses. Yet there have also been costs to the large migratory flows, ranging from effects on the macroeconomy to the disruption of social life. All in all, migration has been good for Moldova. This complex socio-economic phenomenon now appears to have stabilized. Further gains for Moldova and its partner countries could be achieved when new agreements are implemented and the institutions dealing with the planning of migration and protection of migrants are strengthened.
Topic:
Migration, Labor Issues, European Union, and Partnerships
Political Geography:
Europe

142. Costs and Benefits of Labour Mobility between the EU and the Eastern Partnership Partner Countries. Country report: Georgia

Author:
Lasha Labadze
Publication Date:
09-2013
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Center for Social and Economic Research - CASE
Abstract:
This study provides an analysis of the costs and benefits of emigration for Georgia, with an emphasis on emigration to the EU. In the concluding section we dwell on the consequences of a possible liberalization of EU migration policies with regard to Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries, and how such a policy change would affect the flow and composition of migration from Georgia to the EU. The study estimates the costs and benefits of migration through the prism of recent economics developments in Georgia and in particular the sweeping liberalization reforms of recent years. While Georgia remains a poor country, its geopolitical position as a Western outpost in the Caucasus and Central Asian region, its role as a key trade and transportation hub, the superior quality of its bureaucracy, lack of corruption, etc., provide a very different context for migration processes, turning migration into a circular phenomenon, a major factor in modernizing the Georgian economy, society, and politics. The EU should give due consideration to this phenomenon as it (re)considers its policy on migration with regard to Georgia and, potentially, other EaP countries.
Topic:
Migration, Labor Issues, European Union, and Partnerships
Political Geography:
Europe and Georgia

143. Costs and Benefits of Labour Mobility between the EU and the Eastern Partnership Partner Countries. Country report: Azerbaijan

Author:
Azer Allahveranov and Emin Huseynov
Publication Date:
09-2013
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Center for Social and Economic Research - CASE
Abstract:
This Report is one of the six studies in the first phase of the EU project on the “Costs and Benefits of Labour Mobility between the EU and the Eastern Partnership Partner Countries”. It aims at providing an informed view of the potential for increased migration flows and their consequences as a result of possible changes in the migration policies of the European Union with regard to Azerbaijan. The Report is comprised of 7 Chapters. Chapters 1 and 2 provide a discussion of relevant developments in the economy and labour market in the period since independence, with emphasis on developments over the last ten years or so. Chapter 3 provides a detailed discussion of trends in migration, and discusses the labour migration profile. Chapter 4 analyses remittances and their impact on income, investment and consumption. Chapter 5 provides a discussion of the available evidence on the costs and benefits of labour migration, emphasising the economic, social and demographic costs and consequences. Chapter 6 discusses current migration policies and institutions, while Chapter 7 discusses various factors that may be useful in forecasting key migration trends in the future.
Topic:
Migration, Labor Issues, European Union, and Partnerships
Political Geography:
Europe, Eastern Europe, and Azerbaijan

144. Costs and Benefits of Labour Mobility between the EU and the Eastern Partnership Partner Countries. Country report: Armenia

Author:
Gagik Makaryan and Mihran Galstyan
Publication Date:
09-2013
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Center for Social and Economic Research - CASE
Abstract:
The purpose of this study is to explore and assess the costs and benefits of labour migration in Armenia and the potential of migration for contributing to the country’s development. We also examine how policy can be effectively formulated and implemented so that Armenia can get the most out of its migration experience. Lastly, we analyse how a phenomenon that emerged because of limited opportunities for employment – migration – evolved into a strategy towards development and prosperity. Based on this analysis, this paper makes a strong argument in favour of implementing programs in Armenia that involve the active collaboration of government institutions and the Armenian Diaspora, duly considering the unusual influence the latter has on Armenia’s economic and human development.
Topic:
Migration, Labor Issues, European Union, and Partnerships
Political Geography:
Europe and Armenia

145. Cost and Benefits of Labour Mobility between the EU and the Eastern Partnership Partner Countries

Author:
Luca Barbone and Matthias Luecke
Publication Date:
10-2013
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Center for Social and Economic Research - CASE
Abstract:
Migration from Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries has only become a large and important phenomenon over the last twenty years. At its heart, labour migration reflects entrepreneurial decisions by individuals and families looking to improve their lives while facing complex challenges and opportunities. In the past, the language of "migration management" was sometimes used to suggest that migrants and migration needed to be “managed” to achieve government objectives. By contrast, in adopting a migrant-centered perspective, our project aimed to understand, first, EaP migrants’ incentives and the effects of migration on migrants and their families, on non-migrants in the country of origin, and on residents of the destination country. Second, we investigated how labour migration is shaped by and interacts with a wide range of government policies and which policy interventions can enhance the benefits of migration for the affected groups.
Topic:
Migration, Labor Issues, European Union, and Partnerships
Political Geography:
Europe

146. Innovative and absorptive capacity effects of education in a small, open economy

Author:
Taran Fæhn and Brita Bye
Publication Date:
12-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
Evidence points to relatively low supply elasticities for workers skilled for research and development (R), which can hamper innovation and growth. Increasing the supply of R skills will expand an economy's innovative capacity. A simultaneous effect of increased education, which is particularly important for small, open economies, is to raise final goods producers' capacity to absorb cross-border knowledge spillovers. In a calibrated endogenous growth model for Norway, we find that increasing the share of highly educated workers has pronounced absorptive capacity effects that partially crowd out R innovation. Both innovative and absorptive capacity expansions contribute to higher growth and welfare.
Topic:
Development, Education, Human Welfare, Markets, and Labor Issues
Political Geography:
Europe

147. Europe's Recurrent Employment Problems

Author:
Daniel Gros
Publication Date:
05-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)
Abstract:
As the euro crisis continues and unemployment climbs to new heights, the clamour calling for Europe to 'do something' is getting louder. But the real question is: can Europe, or rather the EU, do 'something' that would actually have a real impact on unemployment? In other words, does a European plan or employment strategy make sense?
Topic:
Economics, Markets, Labor Issues, and Financial Crisis
Political Geography:
Europe

148. Europeanising labour migration policies and pursuing national objectives

Author:
Katrine Borg Albertsen
Publication Date:
07-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
Abstract:
The EU Blue Card scheme offers skilled labour migrants access to, and onward mobility within, the EU labour market. Due to its justice and home affairs opt-out Denmark is cut off from participation, and instead pursues national schemes for high-skilled labour migration. It is in the best interests of both Denmark and the EU to pursue fully integrated strategic goals aimed at producing a competitive joint policy on economic migration.
Topic:
Economics, Industrial Policy, Migration, and Labor Issues
Political Geography:
Europe

149. The Informal Europeanization of EU Member State Immigration Policies

Author:
Silvia Cavasola
Publication Date:
09-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
For years the EU has been fostering a common policy to integrate immigrants. Yet, whether its efforts have progressively created something like a homogeneous European model of integration remains an open question. An analysis of the approach to immigrant integration in the EU member states that receive the largest immigration flows, as well as of EU initiatives to promote greater policy harmonization among its member states, shows that partial convergence in national integration strategies is linked more to interstate emulation and parallel path development than to proactive EU legislation on the matter. This trend can be referred to as a process of “informal Europeanization”.
Topic:
Development, Human Welfare, Migration, Labor Issues, and Immigration
Political Geography:
Europe

150. Labour Immigration Policy in the EU: A Renewed Agenda for Europe 2020

Author:
Sergio Carrera, Elspeth Guild, Anaïs Faure Atger, and Dora Kostakopoulou
Publication Date:
04-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)
Abstract:
The EU's capacity for a legitimate, coherent and migrants' rights compliant policy on labour immigration is now more than ever at a test in light of the political priorities set in the EU's 2020 Strategy and the effects of the revolutions and war in North African states during the last four months. This Policy Brief examines the incoherencies characterising the current generation of EU's labour immigration policies and the challenges towards ensuring a global rights-based approach to migration. The analysis carried out in this paper is accompanied by a synthesis of the main policy recommendations discussed at the Workshop on “The Next Phase of EU Labour Immigration Policy: Enhancing Policy Coherence and Advancing a Rights-Based Approach” organised in the context of the Conference “State of the Union: Brussels Think Tank Dialogue 2011” in January 2011.
Topic:
Labor Issues and Immigration
Political Geography:
Africa and Europe