Explaining trends in UK immigration

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

    Abstract

    Since the 1970s Britain has gone from being a country of net emigration to one of net immigration, with a trend increase in immigration of more than 100,000 per year. This paper represents the first attempt to model the variations in net migration for British and for foreign citizens, across countries and over time. A simple economic model, which includes the selection effects of differing income distributions at home and abroad, largely accounts for the variations in the data. The results suggest that although improved economic performance in the UK relative to overseas has tended to increase immigration, rising UK inequality has had an even larger effect. Immigration policies at home and abroad have also increased net immigration, particularly in the 1990s.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)719-740
    JournalJournal of Population Economics
    Volume18
    Issue number4
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2005

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Explaining trends in UK immigration'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this