The fit between regulatory instruments and targets : Regulating the economic integration of migrants

Abstract

This article adopts a novel regulatory perspective on the conditions that facilitate and obstruct economic equality between migrants and natives. Regulation scholars have long emphasized that regulatory interventions need to be geared toward the needs of regulatory targets. We contribute to this research by examining the fit between regulatory instruments and targets' human capital skills. We develop a theoretical framework that captures how economic integration regulations (EIRs) influence economic equality by supporting or restricting migrants in the labor market and as entrepreneurs. We argue that EIRs foster economic equality when they are responsive to the professional needs of specific types of regulatory targets (in terms of language and education skills). We apply the framework in the context of OECD countries. A fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis reveals how the specific configurations of EIRs in 26 OECD countries coincide with either high or low economic equality between migrants and natives. Our approach contributes to the conceptual understanding of a pressing regulatory problem: the successful economic integration of migrants.