Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/234458 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Series/Report no.: 
SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research No. 1130
Publisher: 
Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW), Berlin
Abstract: 
Against a background of increasing violence against non-natives, we estimate the effect of hate crime on refugees' mental health in Germany. For this purpose, we combine two datasets: administrative records on xenophobic crime against refugee shelters by the Federal Criminal Office and the IAB-BAMF-SOEP Survey of Refugees. We apply a regression discontinuity design in time to estimate the effect of interest. Our results indicate that hate crime has a substantial negative effect on several mental health indicators, including the Mental Component Summary score and the Patient Health Questionnaire-4 score. The effects are stronger for refugees with closer geographic proximity to the focal hate crime and refugees with low country-specific human capital. While the estimated effect is only transitory, we argue that negative mental health shocks during the critical period after arrival have important long-term consequences.
Subjects: 
Mental health
hate crime
migration
refugees
human capital
JEL: 
I10
J15
J24
F22
O15
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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