Free to move? Immigration liberalization and international migration

Abstract

This paper examines how immigration liberalization affects migrant inflows. We exploit Switzerland’s gradual introduction of free movement for European Union and European Free Trade Association nationals, while third-country nationals remained subject to a selective quota-based regime. Using administrative register data and a staggered difference-in-differences design, we find that free movement substantially increased immigration from affected countries, with the preferred specification implying that immigration more than doubled on average.

Keywords: Immigration policy ; Free movement ; International migration