Ethnic networks can foster the economic integration of refugees
Abstract
The integration of refugees into the host economy has become a major policy challenge for refugee-receiving countries in recent years. One prominent concern among policymakers is that refugee settlement in locations with high concentrations of coethnics reduces integration. However, evidence on the causal effects of such ethnic clusters is scant. We leverage a centralized placement policy in Switzerland where refugees were exogenously assigned to live in specific locations. We find that refugees assigned to locations with many coethnics find work at higher rates compared with similar refugees assigned to locations with few coethnics. This suggests that spatially concentrated ethnic networks can catalyze the economic integration of refugees by facilitating the sharing of information about employment opportunities.
- Publication:
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Science
- Pub Date:
- August 2019
- DOI:
- 10.1073/pnas.1820345116
- Bibcode:
- 2019PNAS..11616280M