TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Hansen, Marianne Frank
AU  - Schultz-Nielsen, Marie Louise
AU  - Tranæs, Torben
        TI  - The Impact of Immigrants on Public Finances: A Forecast Analysis for Denmark
        PY  - 2015/Feb/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 8844
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp8844
        AB  - All over Europe, ageing populations threaten nations' financial sustainability. In this paper we examine the potential of immigration to strengthen financial sustainability. We look at a particularly challenging case, namely that of Denmark, which has extensive tax-financed welfare programmes that provide a high social safety net. The analysis is based on a forecast for the entire Danish economy made using a dynamic computable general equilibrium model with overlapping generations. Net contributions to the public purse are presented both as cross-sectional figures for a long time horizon and as average individual life-cycle contributions. The main conclusion is that immigrants from richer countries have a positive fiscal impact, while immigrants from poorer countries have a large negative one. The negative effect is caused by both a weak labour market performance and early retirement in combination with the universal Danish welfare schemes.
        KW  - welfare benefits
KW  - sustainable fiscal policy
KW  - immigration
        ER  -