Threat and Assimilation: Evidence from Refugees in Germany
101 Pages Posted: 20 Dec 2021 Last revised: 3 Jan 2025
There are 4 versions of this paper
Threat and Assimilation: Evidence from Refugees in Germany
Scared Straight? Threat and Assimilation of Refugees in Germany
Scared Straight? Threat and Assimilation of Refugees in Germany
Scared Straight? Threat and Assimilation of Refugees in Germany
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
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