In a union of states such as the EU or the US, should immigration policy be decentralized or should it be a federal policy? Experience and economic logic offer a simple argument against decentralization. Because immigration reforms in one state are felt beyond its borders, other states will respond in kind. Decentralization will, therefore, create coordination problems between states and will reduce their individual and collective ability to manage immigration. In the EU and the US, the existence of a federal policy is a precondition for an effective management of migratory flows
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