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The Political Economy of EU Enlargement: Lessons from Switzerland

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  • de Melo, Jaime
  • Müller, Tobias
  • Miguet, Florence

Abstract

The issue of the free movement of persons occupies center stage in the negotiations on EU enlargement. Opinion polls and household surveys reveal that a majority of EU citizens are fearful of the consequences of the free movement of persons. Influenced by these surveys, the EU Commission and several studies have reviewed the pros and cons of alternative flexible transitional arrangement proposals ranging from the current bilateral guest-worker arrangements practiced by some EU members to the establishment of fixed quotas during a limited period of time. These suggestions are reminiscent of the Swiss experience with immigration. At the same time, under the system of direct democracy, the Swiss electorate has voted regularly since 1970 on the policies towards immigrants and on the shape of immigration policy. The Paper reviews the Swiss experience with immigration policy and draws on the unique direct-democracy setting to bypass the problem of ?hypothetical bias? plaguing the analysis of conventional survey data. Determinants of attitudes towards immigration are analysed using individual-level survey data for 2000.

Suggested Citation

  • de Melo, Jaime & Müller, Tobias & Miguet, Florence, 2002. "The Political Economy of EU Enlargement: Lessons from Switzerland," CEPR Discussion Papers 3449, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:3449
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Kévin H. O’Rourke & Richard Sinnott, 2004. "Flux migratoires : économie politique de la migration et enjeux empiriques," Revue d’économie du développement, De Boeck Université, vol. 12(3), pages 45-76.
    2. Silvio Tai, 2009. "Market structure and the link between migration and trade," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 145(2), pages 225-249, July.
    3. Giovanni Facchini & Anna Maria Mayda, 2008. "From individual attitudes towards migrants to migration policy outcomes: Theory and evidence [‘Immigration policy, assimilation of immigrants and natives’ sentiments towards immigrants: Evidence fr," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 23(56), pages 652-713.
    4. Yuji Tamura, 2006. "Disagreement over the immigration of low-income earners in a welfare state," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 19(4), pages 691-702, October.
    5. Tobias Müller & Silvio H. T. Tai, 2010. "Who Opposes Immigrants' Integration into the Labor Market? The Swiss Case," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 146(IV), pages 741-767, December.
    6. Miguet, Florence, 2008. "Voting about immigration policy: What does the Swiss experience tell us?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 628-641, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Immigration; Direct democracy; Hypothetical bias;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

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