Immigration and welfare states: A survey of 15Â years of research

Much of the research on immigration and Western welfare states seems to support the conclusion that immigration flows, with the average characteristics of the last 15 to 20 years' immigration, have tended not to be to the advantage of natives while advantageous for immigrants. Theory can easily account for the mechanisms underlying various aspects of this asymmetric distribution of gains from immigration but the empirical evidence is mixed in quite some instances. Thus we still face challenges for further research, possibly research giving more weight to the institutional dimensions of the determinants of immigration and of immigrant absorption.