Migration and Post-Conflict Reconstruction: The Effect of Returning Refugees on Export Performance in the Former Yugoslavia

113 Pages Posted: 25 Jun 2019 Last revised: 29 Apr 2023

See all articles by Dany Bahar

Dany Bahar

Brown University - Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs; Harvard University - Center for International Development (CID)

Cem Özgüzel

Paris School of Economics (PSE)

Andreas Hauptmann

Government of the Federal Republic of Germany - Institute for Employment Research (IAB)

Hillel Rapoport

Paris School of Economics (PSE)

Abstract

During the early 1990s Germany offered temporary protection to over 600,000 Yugoslavian refugees fleeing war. By 2000, many had been repatriated. We exploit this natural experiment to investigate the role of migrants in post-conflict reconstruction in the former Yugoslavia, using exports as outcome. Using confidential social security data to capture intensity of refugee workers to German industries–and exogenous allocation rules for asylum seekers within Germany as instrument—we find an elasticity of exports to return migration between 0.08 to 0.24. Our results are stronger in knowledge-intensive industries and for workers in occupations intensive in analytical and managerial skills.

Keywords: productivity, exports, management, knowledge diffusion, refugees, migration

JEL Classification: O33, F14, F22

Suggested Citation

Bahar, Dany and Özgüzel, Cem and Hauptmann, Andreas and Rapoport, Hillel, Migration and Post-Conflict Reconstruction: The Effect of Returning Refugees on Export Performance in the Former Yugoslavia. IZA Discussion Paper No. 12412, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3408310 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3408310

Dany Bahar (Contact Author)

Brown University - Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs ( email )

111 Thayer Street
Box 1970
Providence, RI 02912-1970
United States

Harvard University - Center for International Development (CID)

One Eliot Street Building
79 JFK Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Cem Özgüzel

Paris School of Economics (PSE) ( email )

48 Boulevard Jourdan
Paris, 75014 75014
France

Andreas Hauptmann

Government of the Federal Republic of Germany - Institute for Employment Research (IAB) ( email )

Regensburger Str. 104
Nuremberg, 90478
Germany

Hillel Rapoport

Paris School of Economics (PSE) ( email )

48 Boulevard Jourdan
Paris, 75014 75014
France

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
274
Abstract Views
1,419
Rank
203,067
PlumX Metrics