The Evils of Forced Migration: Do Integration Policies Alleviate Migrants' Economic Situations?

Oliver Falck, Stephan Heblich and Susanne Link
Additional contact information
Susanne Link: Ifo Institute for Economic Research

No 5829, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Armed conflicts, natural disasters and infrastructure projects continue to force millions into migration. This is especially true for developing countries. After World War II, about 8 million ethnic Germans experienced a similar situation when forced to leave their homelands and settle within the new borders of West Germany. Subsequently, a law was introduced to foster their labor market integration. We evaluate the success of this law using unique retrospective individual-level panel data. We find that the law improved expellees' overall situation but failed to restore their pre-war occupation status. This holds implications for the design of integration policies today.

Keywords: integration policy; forced migration; difference-in-differences; Germany (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D04 J61 N30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 33 pages
Date: 2011-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mig
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

Published - published as 'Forced Migration and the Effects of an Integration Policy in Post-WWII Germany' in: The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis and Policy: Topics in Economic Analysis and Policy, 2012, 12(1)

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Working Paper: The Evils of Forced Migration: Do Integration Policies Alleviate Migrants' Economic Situations? (2011)
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