Settlement Location Shapes Refugee Integration: Evidence from Post-War Germany

53 Pages Posted: 18 Nov 2019

See all articles by Sebastian Braun

Sebastian Braun

Independent

Nadja Dwenger

Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Abstract

Following one of the largest displacements in human history, almost eight million forced migrants arrived in West Germany after WWII. We study empirically how the settlement location of migrants affected their economic, social and political integration in West Germany. We first document large differences in integration outcomes across West German counties. We then show that high inflows of migrants and a large agrarian base hampered integration. Religious differences between migrants and natives had no effect on economic integration. Yet, they decreased intermarriage rates and strengthened anti-migrant parties. Based on our estimates, we simulate the regional distribution of migrants that maximizes their labor force participation. Inner-German migration in the 1950s brought the actual distribution closer to its optimum.

Keywords: forced migration, regional integration, post-war Germany

JEL Classification: N34, J15, J61

Suggested Citation

Braun, Sebastian and Dwenger, Nadja, Settlement Location Shapes Refugee Integration: Evidence from Post-War Germany. IZA Discussion Paper No. 12741, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3488168 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3488168

Nadja Dwenger

Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance ( email )

10117
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www.tax.mpg.de/en/pub/public_economics/public_economics_people/dwenger_nadja.cfm

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

Paper statistics

Downloads
45
Abstract Views
456
PlumX Metrics