Abstract
How did immigration affect the French economy from 1962 to 1990? From the beginning of the 20th-century until early 1970s, France received an increasing stream of immigrants mostly from its (former) colonies. This changes in 1974, when the country responds to the first oil shock of 1973 by closing its borders to further immigration. The country and its citizens perceived immigration as an economic threat; but was this truly the case? The paper analyzes census and wage data spanning three decades (1962 – 1990) to evaluate the effect of immigration on the French economy. Namely, the paper analyzes the composition of the active labor force and the immigrants’ wages relative to French citizens’ wages. The paper takes a novel interdisciplinary approach between historical and economic analysis. It is initially inspired by a historical approach which interprets the immigration ban of 1974 as a culmination of the events of 1960s – the independence of France’s largest colony Algeria in 1962 and the Student Protests of May 68. On the one hand, the paper argues that the policy change of 1974 reflected the country’s realization of its new, modern identity marked by decolonization and social movements. On the other hand, the paper demonstrates that such rupture is also importantly demonstrated in the economic landscape. Finally, the paper concludes that 1974 indeed marks the beginning of France’s turn to modern politics and economy, which continues until today.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Migration, Colonialism, Decolonization, Social Mobility, Labor Mobility, Political Identity
