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My primary areas of research are Microeconomic Theory, Political Economy and Public Economics. My research focuses on the analysis of collective decision making, specifically on the role played by political processes and institutions in shaping public policies. In my job market paper I investigate the effects of population ageing on immigration and fiscal policies in a voting model. In other research I study, within a collective choice framework, the relationship between income inequality and public spending policies with redistributive effects, such as education and other publicly provided goods.
- Microeconomic Theory
- Political Economy, Public Economics
- Applied Microeconomic Theory
"The Political Economy of Immigration and Population Ageing"
Abstract
I propose a new theoretical framework to investigate the effects of population ageing on immigration policies. Voters' attitude towards immigrants depends on how the net gains from immigration are divided up in the society by the fiscal policy. In the theoretical literature this aspect is treated as exogenous to the political process because of technical constraints. This generates inconsistent predictions about the policy outcome. I propose a new equilibrium concept for voting models to analyse the endogenous relationship between immigration and fiscal policies and solve this apparent inconsistency. I show that the elderly and the poor have a common interest in limiting immigration and in increasing public spending. This exacerbates the effects of population ageing on public finances and results in a high tax burden on working age individuals and further worsens the age profile of the population. Moreover, I show that if the share of elderly population is sufficiently large, then a society is unambiguously harmed by the tightening in the immigration policy caused by the demographic change. The implications of the model are consistent with the patterns observed in UK attitudinal data and in line with the findings of the empirical literature about migration.
- Prof. Ian Preston (University College London)
- Prof. Antonio Cabrales (University College London)
- Prof. John Roemer (Yale University)
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