IMMIGRATION AND THE WELFARE-STATE - IMMIGRANT PARTICIPATION IN MEANS-TESTED ENTITLEMENT PROGRAMS

This paper documents the extent to which immigrants participate in the many programs that make up the welfare state. The immigrant-native di fference in the probability of receiving cash benefits is small, but t he gap widens once other programs are included in the analysis: 21 per cent of immigrant households receive some type of assistance, as compa red with only 14 percent of native households. The types of benefits r eceived by earlier immigrants influence the types of benefits received by newly arrived immigrants. Hence there might be ethnic networks tha t transmit information about the availability of particular benefits t o new immigrants.