The European Commission has recently submitted a proposal to distribute asylum seekers in the EU under a quota scheme which led to a vivid debate in all EU member states. Economic arguments on both sides are often full of misunderstanding. Therefore, it is important to highlight that evidence-based policy making should be based on empirically established facts.

CELSI’s collaborative research contributes to the current debate on EU refugee quotas. Martin Kahanec argues mobility is good for the European economy and immigrants are an asset in the labor market.

The research rebukes three myths about the impacts and causes of international migration:

Myth 1: Immigrants take our jobs and lower our wages.

Myth 2: Immigrants abuse the welfare state

Myth 3: Immigrants "shop" for welfare benefits

Covered by BBC, Handeslblatt, the Guardian and others, recent media coverage on some of this research helps to balance this heated and sensitive debate.

Recent media coverage includes:

Czech Radio: http://www.rozhlas.cz/plus/cizinci/_zprava/politickym-populistickym-stra...Starts circa 13:10 [in Slovak/Czech]

Slovak Radio and Television: http://www.rtvs.sk/televizia/archiv/7772/62543 Starts circa 20:10 [in Slovak]

Invited Op-Ed in Dennik N: https://dennikn.sk/153549/tri-bludy-o-migrantoch-nedajme-sa-pomylit/?ref...

Key contributions:

http://www.iza.org/en/webcontent/publications/papers/viewAbstract?dp_id=... http://www.iza.org/en/webcontent/publications/reports/report_pdfs/report... http://www.iza.org/en/webcontent/publications/reports/report_pdfs/report... http://www.iza.org/en/webcontent/publications/papers/viewAbstract?dp_id=.