Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/251453 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Series/Report no.: 
SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research No. 1160
Publisher: 
Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW), Berlin
Abstract: 
This study deals with the impact of the 2015 European Refugee Crisis on the ethnic identity of resident migrants in Germany. To derive plausibly causal estimates, I exploit the quasiexperimental setting in Germany, by which refugees are allocated to different counties by state authorities without being able to choose their locations themselves. This study finds that higher shares of refugees in a county increased migrants' attachment to their home countries, while not affecting their perceived belonging to Germany. Further analyses uncover strong heterogeneities with respect to country of origin and immigrant characteristics and suggest that the observed effects may be primarily driven by experiences of discrimination and the consumption of foreign media. Lastly, I find that changes in ethnic identity coincide with the political polarization of migrants. These results have various policy implications in terms of the dispersal of asylum seekers, the modes of communication with different migrant groups and the importance of antidiscrimination measures.
Subjects: 
Refugees
Migrants
Ethnic Identity
European Refugee Crisis
JEL: 
F22
J15
P16
Z13
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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