The Varieties of High-Skilled Immigration Policies: Sectoral Coalitions and Outcomes in Advanced Industrial Countries

The paper presents a comparative political economy theoretical framework of high-skilled immigration (HSI thereafter) policies in advanced industrial countries and seeks to explain differences in countries’ policies in terms of HSI openness. I take from the traditional partisanship approach that political parties will pursue policies consistent with the preferences of their major constituencies. However, I divide labour and capital into highand low-skilled sectors. I argue that, despite converging policy goals for more open HSI in order to fill labour market shortages, divergence between countries’ HSI policies continues. No consistent HSI position of left and right parties exists cross-nationally because different coalitions between sectors of high-skilled labour, low-skilled labour and capital take place. I analyze more open or restrictive HSI outcomes by portraying actors’ preferences that are aggregated in coalitions and intermediated by institutional constraints (such as labour market organization and electoral system) across advanced industrial countries.