Immigration and immigration policies in the OECD countries

More people live outside their country of origin than ever before. In relative terms however, the increase of the foreign born population is amazingly small. From 1950 to 2010 the global share of foreign born residents has hardly risen from 2.6 % to 3.1 %. Especially when compared to the enormous developments of global capital flows and international trade, international mobility of people is still enormously limited. A closer look at the data reveals however that both, immigration outcomes and immigration policies vary substantially across territories. This also applies to destinations which are comparable with regard to income, social welfare and political freedom such as the OECD countries. Hence, the questions this work is going to tackle are: Why is immigration still so restricted and why do immigration guidelines vary so substantially across countries? In order to find satisfying answers, this book summarizes the recent evidence on immigration outcomes and immigration policies and present feasible explanations by use of innovative theoretical frameworks.