Understanding the Effects of Granting Work Permits to Undocumented Immigrants

This paper studies the legalization of 600,000 non-EU immigrants by the unexpectedly elected Spanish government following the terrorist attacks of 2004. By comparing non-EU to EU immigrants we first estimate that the policy did not lead to magnet effects. We then show that the policy change increase...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Elias, Ferran, Monràs, Joan, Vázquez Grenno, Javier
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de la UB
OAI Identifier:oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/222806
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/222806
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Política migratòria
Mercat de treball
Migrants en situació irregular
Política d'ocupació
Famílies immigrants
Migration policy
Labor market
Migrants in irregular situation
Manpower policy
Immigrant families
Descripción
Sumario:This paper studies the legalization of 600,000 non-EU immigrants by the unexpectedly elected Spanish government following the terrorist attacks of 2004. By comparing non-EU to EU immigrants we first estimate that the policy did not lead to magnet effects. We then show that the policy change increased labor market opportunities for immigrants by allowing them to enter sectors of the economy with fewer informal employment. We rely on cross-province comparisons to document that payroll-tax revenues increased by around 4,000 euros per legalized immigrant, and the heterogeneous effect of the policy on various groups of workers. We provide a theoretical framework based on monopsonistic competition to guide our empirical work and interpret our findings.