Threat and Assimilation: Evidence from Refugees in Germany

101 Pages Posted: 20 Dec 2021 Last revised: 3 Jan 2025

See all articles by Philipp Jaschke

Philipp Jaschke

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

Sulin Sardoschau

Humboldt University - Department of Economics

Marco Tabellini

Harvard Business School

Multiple version iconThere are 4 versions of this paper

Date Written: January 02, 2025

Abstract

This paper studies the effects of local threat on the cultural assimilation and economic integration of refugees, exploiting plausibly exogenous variation in their allocation across German regions between 2013 and 2016. We use representative survey data and administrative records to measure cultural preferences as well as employment, earnings and job characteristics of refugees and German residents, and construct a threat index that integrates contemporaneous and historical variables on xenophobia at the local level. We document that refugees assigned to more hostile regions converge to Germans' stated preferences more rapidly, but do not find a job more quickly and experience slower earnings growth. We provide evidence that, by heightening threat perceptions, local hostility prompts refugees to adopt German culture more quickly. However, higher discrimination in these regions slows down refugees' successful integration.

Keywords: Migration, refugees, culture, assimilation, identity

Suggested Citation

Jaschke, Philipp and Sardoschau, Sulin and Tabellini, Marco, Threat and Assimilation: Evidence from Refugees in Germany (January 02, 2025). Harvard Business School BGIE Unit Working Paper No. 22-043, Harvard Business Working Paper No. 22-043, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3988428 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3988428

Philipp Jaschke

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

Regensburger Str. 104
Nuremberg, 90478
Germany

Sulin Sardoschau

Humboldt University - Department of Economics ( email )

Unter den Linden 6
Berlin, AK Berlin 10099
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://https://sites.google.com/view/sulinsardoschau/home

Marco Tabellini (Contact Author)

Harvard Business School ( email )

Soldiers Field Road
Morgan 270C
Boston, MA 02163
United States

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