October 2006

IZA DP No. 2392: The Economics of Citizenship: A Common Intellectual Ground for Social Scientists?

published in: Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 2008, 34 (4), 679-693

Economists studying the economic behaviour of immigrants have tended to avoid serious interdisciplinary work. I argue that when presented with a particular set of research questions that lend themselves to a utility maximisation framework, an economist will be able to pursue interdisciplinary work. I further argue that the necessary if not sufficient ingredient for true economic collaborative research has been met in the field of citizenship acquisition. I review the existing empirical research on citizenship acquisition and its economic impacts to support this argument.