EDB: Migration and social inequality are problems requiring comprehensive solutions in all spheres of economic policy
16 June 2016
St. Petersburg, 16 June 2016. Today, the main threat to Europe's economic growth is "migration without integration" when the influx of migrants turns not into greater labour productivity, but higher expenses on providing social support to incoming people. Yaroslav Lissovolik, Chief Economist at Eurasian Development Bank (EDB), said this during the TV debates on The Economic Impact of Migrant Crises. The discussion took place on 16 June 2016 as part of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
Yaroslav Lissovolik believes that international migration is a problem without simple solutions. He pointed out that an effective solution to it would be not autarchy, but openness – both at the country level, by expanding opportunities for economic growth in Africa and the Near East (including reductions in trade barriers for products supplied by these countries to developed countries), and within developed economies towards migrants, by enhancing opportunities for their integration in the labour market and social institutions.
EDB's Chief Economist emphasised that, despite the seeming excessiveness of migration flows to Europe, migrants would be a very important resource for developed countries in overcoming the effects of the demographic crisis and its impact on economic growth. He is convinced that Europe's demand for migrants will keep growing and the key task is to devise measures to integrate migrants in the European economy. "This suggests, in turn, that migrants should be included in the European pool of human capital with access to education, professional development, health care, and career development," Yaroslav Lissovolik said.
At the SPIEF, EDB's Chief Economist also spoke about social inequality at the session on Inclusive Growth: How Best to Address Income Disparity Without Stifling Growth. He pointed out that this problem reflected deep imbalances in a whole range of dimensions and, for this reason, only a comprehensive set of measures covering almost all spheres of economic policy would be effective. The expert stated that such imbalances in Russia were its uneven regional development, high industry's dependence on oil and gas, and structural imbalances caused by weak positions of SMEs.
In his opinion, social inequality in Russia could be addressed with the following measures: reducing inflation (taking into account its negative impact on the poorest); introducing progressive income taxes; increasing expenditure on human capital development; structural measures aimed at economic diversification by means of infrastructure development; decrease in dependence on oil and gas; measures to encourage SME advancement; and measures to promote regional development and regions’ economic diversification.
Additional Information:
Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) is an international financial institution founded by Russia and Kazakhstan in January 2006 with the mission to facilitate the development of market economies, sustainable economic growth, and the expansion of mutual trade and other economic ties in its member states. EDB’s charter capital totals US $7 billion. The member states of the Bank are the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, and the Republic of Tajikistan.
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EDB Media Center:
+7 (727) 244 40 44 ext. 6147 (Almaty)
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