Destination Spain: An Analysis of Immigration Trends to Spain During Times of Economic Growth and Crisis

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to more effectively understand the time leading up to and during the economic crisis in Spain though the viewpoint of immigration policies enacted and the circumstances surrounding levels of high unemployment. The primary question posed is: Is there a significant cause and effect relationship between the annual number of immigrants to Spain and the unemployment rate? To prove a correlation, a number of articles are reviewed in order to gain perspective on what established economists have discussed on the topic and what theory and advice they offer. Based off of this review, an OLS regression is run and then tested to see how the results hold up. The object of the analysis is to show a significant negative correlation between the annual number of immigrants and the unemployment rate. This would then prove that unemployment is one of the most important factors when considering immigration. The regression results did show that unemployment had a significant negative impact on the annual number of immigrants. However, there were issues with serial correlation, meaning that further research and correction would need to be done in order to achieve more meaningful results.