This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 License. It is free to read, download and share on Elgaronline.com. Focusing on the social impact of migration, this book explores migration as an inevitable part of rural development and transition in light of the sharp political divides in European and national political arenas on the topic. It provides an innovative immigration impact assessment based on recently conducted empirical work to enhance local development in European rural and remote regions, looking to promote change in the perception of migration and related policies and practices.

This paper analyses the impact of large and persistent emigration from Eastern European countries over the past 25 years on these countries’ growth and income convergence to advanced Europe. While emigration has likely benefited migrants themselves, the receiving countries and the EU as a whole, its impact on sending countries’ economies has been largely negative. The analysis suggests that labor outflows, particularly of skilled workers, lowered productivity growth, pushed up wages, and slowed growth and income convergence. At the same time, while remittance inflows supported financial deepening, consumption and investment in some countries, they also reduced incentives to work and led to exchange rate appreciations, eroding competiveness. The departure of the young also added to the fiscal pressures of already aging populations in Eastern Europe. The paper concludes with policy recommendations for sending countries to mitigate the negative impact of emigration on their economies, and the EU-wide initiatives that could support these efforts.

In this open access book, experts on integration processes, integration policies, transnationalism, and the migration and development framework provide an academic assessment of the 2011 European Agenda for the Integration of Third-Country Nationals, which calls for integration policies in the EU to involve not only immigrants and their society of settlement, but also actors in their country of origin. Moreover, a heuristic model is developed for the non-normative, analytical study of integration processes and policies based on conceptual, demographic, and historical accounts. The volume addresses three interconnected issues: What does research have to say on (the study of) integration processes in general and on the relevance of actors in origin countries in particular? What is the state of the art of the study of integration policies in Europe and the use of the concept of integration in policy formulation and practice? Does the proposal to include actors in origin countries as important players in integration policies find legitimation in empirical research? A few general conclusions are drawn. First, integration policies have developed at many levels of government: nationally, locally, regionally, and at the supra-national level of the EU. Second, a multitude of stakeholders has become involved in integration as policy designers and implementers. Finally, a logic of policymaking—and not an evidence-based scientific argument—can be said to underlie the European Commission’s redefinition of integration as a three-way process. This book will appeal to academics and policymakers at international, European, national, regional, and local levels. It will also be of interest to graduate and master-level students of political science, sociology, social anthropology, international relations, criminology, geography, and history.

ÔThis book examines migration in a rapidly globalizing economy where it disrupts such relatively stable patterns as the trip to work, home, school and shopping on the one hand, and is itself transformed by continuously evolving information and telecommunications technology, declining relative transport cost and immigration policy dynamics. The perspective is global yet provides the reader with empirically based work representing Europe, North America and Asia, and international comparative studies of changing migration patternsÕ impact on trade and culture.Õ Ð Roger R. Stough, George Mason University, US During the last few decades the world has experienced an unprecedented level of cross-border migration. While this has generated significant socio-economic gains for host countries, as well as sometimes for the countries of origin, the costs and benefits involved are unevenly distributed. Consequently, growing global population mobility is a hotly debated topic, both in the political arena and by the general public. Amidst a plethora of facts, opinions and emotions, the assessment of migration impacts must be grounded in a solid scientific evidence base. This analytical book outlines and applies a range of the scientific methods that are currently available in migration impact assessment (MIA). The book provides various North American and European case studies that quantify socio-economic consequences of migration for host societies and for immigrants themselves. With up-to-date and broad coverage, this detailed study will appeal to academic researchers in the social sciences, policy analysts at national and international level, as well as graduate students in economics and regional science.

This text fulfills a major gap by comprehensively reviewing one of the most salient policy issues in Europe today, migration and immigration. It is the first book to address the question of whether we can legitimately speak of a European politics of migration that links states in terms of their policy response to each other and to an evolving EU policy. The book carefully differentiates between different types of migration, introduces the main concepts and debates, and provides a broad comparative framework from which to assess the role and impact of individual states and the European Union (EU) and European integration to this key contemporary issue. Topical and up-to-date, the author fully reviews the politics and policies of immigration across the breadth and depth of Europe including the `older' immigration countries of France, Germany and the United Kingdom, the `newer' southern European countries, and the enlargement states of East and Central Europe. The Politics of Immigration and Migration in Europe is essential reading for all undergraduate and post-graduate students of European politics, political science and the social sciences more generally. Andrew Geddes lectures at the School of Politics and Communications Studies, University of Liverpool. `This book will be essential reading for students of migration and European integration, but will also be important for decision-makers, and, indeed, anyone who wants to understand one of the burning issues of our times' - Stephen Castles, Professor of Migration and Refugee Studies, Director of the Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford