Back to issue
Cover of: Refugee Immigration and Public-Sector Finances: Evidence from Sweden
Lina Aldén, Mats Hammarstedt

Refugee Immigration and Public-Sector Finances: Evidence from Sweden

[NIX]
Section: Fiscal Policy in Action
Volume 75 (2019) / Issue 3, pp. 297-322 (26)
Published 02.04.2019
DOI 10.1628/fa-2019-0006
  • article PDF
  • available
  • 10.1628/fa-2019-0006
Summary
We present an analysis of how refugee immigration affects public-sector finances during the refugees' first years of stay in Sweden. Two different measures are presented. First, public-sector revenues are related to public-sector costs under the assumption that public costs increase in proportion to refugee immigration. Second, public-sector revenues are related to public-sector costs when, in the short run, costs for public administration, infrastructure, and national defense are assumed to be fixed as refugee immigration increases. We find that refugee immigration implies a net cost for public-sector finances for several years and that this cost to a large extent is dependent on the refugees' labor market assimilation.