Immigration into Europe: Economic Discrimination, Violence, and Public Policy

Abstract

Immigration has irreversibly changed Western European demographics over the past generation. This article reviews recent research drawing implications of this migration for labor-market discrimination and for immigrant–state and immigrant–native violence. It further reports on research measuring the effects of political institutions and policy regimes on reducing the barriers to immigrants' economic integration. In the course of reviewing the literature, we discuss some of the methodological challenges that scholars have not fully confronted in trying to identify the causes and consequences of discrimination and violence. In doing so, we highlight that future work needs to pay greater attention to sequencing, selection, and demographic effects. Further, we suggest ways to resolve contradictory findings in regard to preferred policies aimed at advancing immigrants' economic performance.