Theorising the effects of EU emigration for origin countries: win-win, dependency or agency?

Theory on East-West migration and EU freedom of movement reveals a bias towards accounts from neoclassical economics predicting a win-win for destination and origin countries of migrants. To counter the bias, we juxtapose the neoclassical perspective with the dependency school and the state capacity literature. Empirically, we find that benefits of migration occur regarding the effects of remittances yet not for expectations on return and demography as well as GDP development and growth. The two alternative accounts explain better how emigration may aggravate a country's peripheral position in the EU or how countries manage to reverse and limit outmigration.