Methoden

The study will first review the relevant literature on the impact of the transitional periods on migration flows and stocks and the subsequent economic and social effects at the macro-, regional and sectoral levels. 
Second, the study will provide a comprehensive analysis of the available data on migration flows and stocks in the destination and sending countries of the EU-27, which will contain the scale of total migration and labour migration, the skill structure of migration, and selected indicators for the labour market performance of the migrants from the new Member States and the Candidate Countries. This analysis will provide first insights on aspects such as the brain drain and brain gain, gender issues, and the social situation of migrants. 
Third, the study will simulate the impact of the present migration flows and stocks on labour markets and the economies in the destination and sending countries based on three types of models:
(i) The long-run impact of migration on wages, (un-)employment, GDP will be analysed on basis of an applied CGE model which considers wage rigidities and unemployment for all EU-15 and the NMS-10 countries individually.
(ii) A more detailed analysis will be provided for selected EU-15 and NMS-10 countries on basis of an applied CGE-model which considers the interaction between migration and trade and capital movements. This model will provide also a detailed analysis of the impact of labour mobility at the sectoral level.
(iii) The short-run impact of actual and potential labour mobility will be analysed on basis of a macroeconomic model which considers the fluctuations in the business-cycle. This allows also assessing the impact of labour mobility on macro-economic features such as inflation. The findings from the three models will be compared with the available evidence on the wage and employment impact of migration from econometric studies in Europe. 
Fourth, the study will complement the simulations by an analysis of the migration effects for the welfare state and the social situation in the sending and receiving countries. 
Fifth, the study will analyse the impact of labour mobility on the brain drain, brain gain and brain waste based on the available data and the simulation models descroibed above. 
Sixth, the study will carry out an analysis of the regional implications of labour mobility in the enlarged EU on basis of the most affected regions at the Austrian-Slovakian-Hungarian triangle 
Seventh, the study will carry out detailed case studies in some mainly affected destination and sending countries. These studies will cover the legal conditions for migration, a detailed analysis of the data on the size and skill structure of migration, the labour market performance of migrants, and the economic and social effects. Moreover, the study will analyse on basis of case studies the regional impact of labour mobility.