Premium
Do Regularization Programs for Illegal Immigrants Have a Magnet Effect? Evidence from Spain
Author(s) -
Larramona Gemma,
SansoNavarro Marcos
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
the manchester school
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.361
H-Index - 42
eISSN - 1467-9957
pISSN - 1463-6786
DOI - 10.1111/manc.12099
Subject(s) - amnesty , counterfactual thinking , scrutiny , illegal immigrants , immigration , demographic economics , population , regularization (linguistics) , economics , econometrics , socioeconomic status , development economics , political science , computer science , demography , law , sociology , psychology , social psychology , artificial intelligence , human rights
This paper attempts to determine whether regularization programs of illegal immigrants have a magnet effect. Using a comparative case study approach, we analyze the most recent amnesty implemented in S pain. More specifically, we apply a synthetic control method that is suitable for the evaluation of policies at the country level. Our results suggest that the increasing trend followed by the foreign population in the period analyzed is not a consequence of the amnesty under scrutiny. Rather, it corresponds to the path for a counterfactual country with similar socioeconomic characteristics.