Integration of European Labour Markets
Welcome to our homepage!
About us:
The Chair of Economics, particularly the Integration of European Labour Markets, is
sponsored by the Federal Employment Services of Germany for examining the labour market
effects of European Integration and of the increasing integration of the world economy. The
chair has been jointly appointed with the head of the department for International
Comparisons and European Integration at the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) in
Nuremberg. The joint appointment is based on a cooperation agreement between the
University of Bamberg and the Institute for Employment Research.
The teaching and research activities of the chair focus on the effects of trade, labour migration
and capital mobility within Europe and between Europe and other regions of the world on
wages, employment and the distribution of income.
Team
Professor Dr. Herbert Brücker
Feldkirchenstraße 21
D-96045 Bamberg
Room F
Phone: [+49] (911) 179-3807 (direct)
[+49] (951) 863-2633
Fax: [+49] (951) 179-3238
Email: herbert.bruecker(at)sowi.uni-bamberg.de
Office hours: Please contact the administrative assistant Petra Koch for appointments.
Brief Biography
Herbert Brücker is Professor of Economics, in particular Integration of European Labour
Markets at the University of Bamberg and acts as head of the department for international
comparisons and European integration at the Institute for Employment Research (IAB)
in Nuremberg. After obtaining his doctorate in economics from the University of Frankfurt
Herbert Brücker was senior economist at the German Development Institute (GDI), at the
German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) in Berlin and visiting professor at the Aarhus
School of Business. He received the venia legendi for economics from the Technical
University in Berlin in 2005.
Herbert Brücker’s main areas of research are international migration, European integration
and labour markets. His research focuses on the determinants of migration, the labour markets
effects of migration and other factor movements, the new economics of the brain drain and
the EU Eastern enlargement. His papers have been published in Economic Policy, the Journal
of Comparative Economics and Empirical Economics.
Links
Herbert Brücker at the Institut for Employment Research (IAB)
Curriculum Vitae
Publications
Administrative Assistant, Petra Koch
Petra Koch
Feldkirchenstr. 21, D-96045 Bamberg, Room F 203c
Tel.: [+49] (951) 863-2633
Fax: [+49] (951) 863-2635
Email: sekretariat.wirtschaftspolitik(at)uni-bamberg.de
The office is open daily from 9:30 hours am to 1:00 hours pm.
Teaching
The teaching activities of the chair focus on the labour market effects of European integration
and international trade and factor movements. The chair has a limited teaching obligation of
two hours per term. We provide a lecture on the theory and politics of European Integration in
the winter term, and a project seminar on current problems of internationalisation and labour
markets in the summer term.
The lectures and seminars are part of the bachelor programme „European Economic Studies“
(EES). Students of other fields, particularly students of the subject „Europäische Wirtschaft“
(business administration) and sociology, are highly welcome.
The teaching programme of the chair connects economic theories with empirical insights on
relevant issues. The project seminar applies empirical methods, particularly methods of
applied econometrics, on selected examples. A part of the teaching programme is conducted
in English language.
Links
Lecture “Theory and Politics of European Integration“ WS 2008/09
Project seminar SS 2008 „Migration and the Labour Market“
Lecture winter term 2008/09
Theory and Politics of European Integration
The European Union (EU) has achieved a degree of economic and political integration, which
is unique among the regional trade areas of the world. The four fundamental freedoms of the
Common Market which have been fixed already in the Rome Treaties of 1957 guarantee the
free trade of goods, free service trade, the free mobility of capital and the free movement of
workers. Step by step the EU has removed the barriers for trade and factor mobility and
harmonised the regulation of markets across the Community. The European agricultural-,
regional-, industrial- and competition policies affect more and more areas of the structural and
economic policies of the EU Member States today. Finally, with the European Economic and
Monetary Union (EMU) a common currency has been introduced in a part of the Member
States. At the same time, the Community has grown from six founding Member States with a
joint population of 180 million persons to 27 Member States with a joint population of about
400 million persons.
The increasing integration and further enlargement of the EU is discussed controversial within
the EU Member States. The lecture will present the main institutions of the Community and
introduce in the theory of regional economic integration. The following topics will be
addressed in detail:
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History of the European Union their institutions
Trade and trade diversion
Integration of capital and labour markets
Economic and Monetary Union (EMU)
Selected EU policies: competition and agricultural policies
EU Eastern enlargement
Literatur
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Baldwin, Richard und Charles Wyplosz, The Economics of European Integration,
McGraw-Hill, London et al., 2005.
Syllabus of the project seminar
Migration and the Labour Market
Western Europe is after Northern America the main destination of migrants in the World, and
the scale of migration has substantially increased during the last two decades. Both the fall of
the Iron Curtain and the influx of migrants from Northern Africa and the Middle East to the
Southern European countries have contributed to this migration surge. The objective of this
project seminar is to analyse the determinants of international migration and its effects on
labour markets from an empirical perspective.
The determinants of migration
The first task of the seminar is to analyse the economic, social and demographic determinants
of international migration. To this end, we will use macro data on migration stocks, migration
flows, and economic and institutional variables in Germany and other European countries.
The theoretical background of the analysis forms the so-called human capital approach, the
Harris-Todaro-model and advanced models of the migration decision. For the empirical
analysis, we will use the tools of time-series and panel econometrics.
The self-selection of migrants
The second task of the seminar is to examine the self-selection of migrants with regard to
their skill-levels. The analysis will build on the theoretical framework of the Roy-Borjas
model, which explains the self-selection of migrants by the relative returns in the respective
locations. Moreover, we will analyse whether and how immigration policies can affect the
skill structure of migration. The analysis will be based on a new macro data set, which
comprises the skill-level of migrants in 6 OECD destination countries from more than 140
sending countries between 1975 and 2000. We will employ the tools of panel econometrics
for the empirical analysis.
The labour market effects of migration
The final task of the seminar is to investigate the wage and employment effects of labour
migration. It is still controversial in the theoretical and empirical literature, whether
immigration depresses wages and increases unemployment. Based on new approaches in the
US literature, we will analyse the effects of immigration on the German labour market. The
analysis will be based on a data set, which is derived from the IAB employment sample. The
IAB employment sample is a 2 % sample of all individuals covered by the German social
insurance system. We will apply the tools of panel econometrics for the analysis.
Conditions for participation
Basic knowledge in econometric techniques (OLS) is a prerequisite. Expertise in STATA
(task 2 and 3) or EViews (task 1) is of advantage.
Literature
Boeri, T., H. Brücker (2005), Why are Europeans so tough on migrants? In: Economic Policy,
44, October 2005, 629-703.
Borjas, George J. (2003), “The Labour Demand Curve is Downward-Sloping: Reexamining
the Impact of Immigration on the Labour Market”, Quarterly Journal of Economics,
November 2003, 1335-1374.
Research
The research activities of the chair focus on the labour market effects of internationalisation
processes, particularly the labour market effects of international migration and the EU Eastern
enlargement. As head of the research department “International Comparisons and European
Integration” at the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) the chair participates in
numerous research projects. The main sponsors of the research projects are the European
Commission, the Federal Government of Germany and research foundations. The research
activities cover both projects in the field of academic research which are funded with by the
7th framework programme of the European Commission and research foundations, as well as
applied empirical projects on relevant policy topics which are commissioned by the European
Commission and Federal Government of Germany. The research is based on international
cooperation with leading universities and research centres in Europe and the USA.
Current research projects
 Transnationality of Migrants (TOM)
 Labour mobility within the EU
 The Economics of the Brain Gain
Transnationality of Migrants (TOM)
Donor: European Commission, 7th framework programme.
Coordinator: Prof. Dr. Gianni Toniolo, Univerisität Tor Vergata, Rome.
Partners: CEPR, FAO, Free University Brussels, HWWI, Katholic University Mailano, IAB,
LSE, UCL, University Lille II, University Louvain-la-Neuf, University Riga, University TorVergata Rome, University Turin, WTO
Begin/end date: 2006-2010
The project is research and training network (RTN) which is funded by the 7th framework
programme of the EU. The project tempts to connect excellent academic research with the
exchange of young and experienced researchers across Europe.
The project examines several aspects of transnational networks of migrants between sending
and destination countries. The research of the chair and IAB focuses in the causes and
consequences of the brain drain in sending and destination countries. About 40 researchers
from 18 universities and other research centres participate in the project.
Labour mobility within the EU in the context of enlargement and the functioning of
transitional arrangements
Donor: European Commission, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities
Coordinator: Herbert Brücker.
Partners: IAB, CMR, fRDB, WIFO, wiiw
Begin/end date: 2007-2008
The project examines the effects of the transitional arrangements for the free movement of
workers in the context of the EU Eastern enlargement. Inter alia, the project analyses the
determinants of migration and forecasts potential migration, addresses the labour market
effects of migration and its impact on the welfare state. The effects of a potential brain drain
are particularly considered.
The project supports the report of the European Commission on the transitional arrangements
(the so-called “Spidla-report”) from a scientific perspective.
About 30 researchers from five research institutions participate in the project.
The Economics of the Brain Gain
Donor: Fondazione Rodolfo DeBenedetti (fRDB), Milano
Coordinator: Herbert Brücker.
Partners: Anna-Maria Mayda, Georgetown University
Begin/end date: 2007-2008
The phenomenon of the ‚brain drain’ has attracted new attentation in the migration research
recently. The emigration of high skilled workers can increase skill endowments in the sending
countries of the option to migrate triggers additional human capital investment and/or a part
of the skilled migrants return to their human countries. The research project examines
empirically which consequences the endogeneity of human capital investment in sending
countries may have on the destination countries. Moreover, the consequences of selective
immigration policies on welfare in receiving and sending countries are analysed.
Service
Address
Visitors
Lehrstuhl für Volkswirtschaftslehre, insbes. Integration Europäische Arbeitsmärkte
Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg
Room F 203c
Feldkirchenstraße 21
D-96045 Bamberg
Germany
Phone: [+49] (951) 863-2633
Fax: [+49] (951) 863-2635
Email: sekretariat.wirtschaftspolitik(at)uni-bamberg.de
Location plan
Location of the University in Bamberg
Google Map Germany
Post office box
Lehrstuhl für Volkswirtschaftslehre, insbesondere Internationale Wirtschaft
Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg
D-96045 Bamberg
Germany
Packages
Otto-Friedrichs-Universität
Kapuzinerstr. 16
D-96047 Bamberg
Germany