The impact of migration policy on migrants' education structure: Evidence from austrian policy reform

Abstract

We ask how reform of migration law intended to increase the selectivity of migration (the so-called integration agreement regulation in 2003) in Austria impacted on the education structure of migrants to Austria. To identify the effects of this reform, we use the fact that it applied only to migrants from third countries and not those from EEA-countries. We find no compelling evidence that this regulation improved the education structure of migrants to Austria. Our interpretation of this is that the implicit positive impact of the reforms on the education structure of migrants was countervailed by the increased restrictiveness of the migration regime overall, or that other developments in the migration regime were more important for changes in education structure in the time period considered.