Economic profiles of general border security and their opportunity costs

The issue of securitization of borders

This paper focuses on the economic implications of border security policies within the European Union and the-Schengen-area in particular. As countless national and international agencies claim to take part in the execution of these policies, which are handled with high priority in the political arena, accounting for the direct and indirect costs becomes a rather complex exercise. Not least because the execution of controls is often externalised and thus may actually shift the location of the physical and legal borders. Additionally what actually happens at these borders as opposed to what the agencies involved advertise often differs substantially. Furthermore the perception of the border regimes is prone to be influenced by the political lens of the respective observers. However the opinionated debates on the border regimes take place against the background that no empirical evidence is available to show that they actually enhance the security of the borders and for that matter of the society.

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Economic profiles of general border security and their opportunity costs