The enlargement of the European Union has increased concerns about the role of generous welfare transfers in attracting migrants. This paper explores the issue of welfare migration across the 15 countries of the pre-enlargement Union and finds a significant but small effect of the generosity of...

The existing studies of unemployment benefit and unemployment duration suggest that reforms that lower either the level or the duration of benefits should reduce unemployment. Despite the large number of such reforms implemented in Europe in the past decades, this paper presents evidence that...