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Reducing income transfers to refugee immigrants: Does start-help help you start?

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  • Rosholm, Michael
  • Vejlin, Rune

Abstract

We estimate the effect of lowering income transfers to refugee immigrants in Denmark - labeled start-help - using a competing risk framework. Refugee immigrants obtaining residence permit before July 2002 received larger income transfers than those who obtained their residence permit later. Exploiting this 'quasi-natural' experiment, we find that the lower income transfer has a positive effect on the job-finding rate after two years in Denmark. We also find that the exit rate from the labour force is positively affected by start-help during the early phases of the integration process. Finally, we find that those with the poorest labour market prospects are the least responsive to the improvement in economic incentives.

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  • Rosholm, Michael & Vejlin, Rune, 2010. "Reducing income transfers to refugee immigrants: Does start-help help you start?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 258-275, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:labeco:v:17:y:2010:i:1:p:258-275
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    Cited by:

    1. Giesing, Yvonne & Battisti, Michele & Laurentsyeva, Nadzeya, 2018. "The Labour Market Integration of Refugees in Germany: Evidence from a Field Experiment," VfS Annual Conference 2018 (Freiburg, Breisgau): Digital Economy 181522, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    2. Matilda Kilström & Birthe Larsen & Elisabet Olme, 2023. "Temporary refugee protection and labor-market outcomes," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 65(4), pages 1895-1929, October.
    3. Jacob Nielsen Arendt & Christian Dustmann & Hyejin Ku, 2022. "Refugee migration and the labour market: lessons from 40 years of post-arrival policies in Denmark," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 38(3), pages 531-556.
    4. Francesco Fasani & Tommaso Frattini & Maxime Pirot, 2023. "From Refugees to Citizens: Labor Market Returns to Naturalization," Development Working Papers 489, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano, revised 11 Jun 2024.
    5. Battisti, Michele & Giesing, Yvonne & Laurentsyeva, Nadzeya, 2019. "Can job search assistance improve the labour market integration of refugees? Evidence from a field experiment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    6. Aldashev, Alisher & Thomsen, Stephan L. & Walter, Thomas, 2010. "Short-term training programs for immigrants: do effects differ from natives and why?," ZEW Discussion Papers 10-021, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    7. Jacob Nielsen Arendt & Iben Bolvig & Mette Foged & Linea Hasager & Giovanni Peri, 2020. "Language Training and Refugees' Integration," NBER Working Papers 26834, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Vibeke Jakobsen & Tomas Korpi & Thomas Lorentzen, 2019. "Immigration and Integration Policy and Labour Market Attainment Among Immigrants to Scandinavia," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 35(2), pages 305-328, May.
    9. Matti Sarvimaki & Kari Hamalainen, 2010. "Assimilating Immigrants: The Impact of an Integration Program," RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series 1019, Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM).
    10. Rosholm, Michael & Vejlin, Rune, 2010. "Reducing income transfers to refugee immigrants: Does start-help help you start?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 258-275, January.
    11. Jacob Nielsen Arendt, 2022. "Labor market effects of a work-first policy for refugees," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(1), pages 169-196, January.
    12. Ole Agersnap & Amalie Sofie Jensen & Henrik Kleven, 2019. "The Welfare Magnet Hypothesis: Evidence From an Immigrant Welfare Scheme in Denmark," NBER Working Papers 26454, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Sebastian Butschek & Thomas Walter, 2014. "What active labour market programmes work for immigrants in Europe? A meta-analysis of the evaluation literature," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 3(1), pages 1-18, December.
    14. Sarvimäki, Matti, 2009. "Essays on migration," Research Reports P51, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    15. Jakobsen, Kristian Thor & Kaarsen, Nicolai & Vasiljeva, Kristine, 2016. "Does reduced cash beneit worsen educational outcomes of refugee children?," MPRA Paper 72008, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Marco Pecoraro & Anita Manatschal & Eva G. T. Green & Philippe Wanner, 2019. "Does integration policy improve labour market, sociocultural and psychological adaptation of asylum-related immigrants? Evidence from Sri Lankans in Switzerland," IRENE Working Papers 19-08, IRENE Institute of Economic Research.
    17. Peder J. Pedersen, 2013. "Immigration and welfare state cash benefits: the Danish case," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 34(2), pages 113-125, May.
    18. Lars Højsgaard Andersen & Christian Dustmann & Rasmus Landersø, 2019. "Lowering Welfare Benefits: Intended and Unintended Consequences for Migrants and their Families," RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series 1905, Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM).
    19. Seonho Shin, 2022. "Evaluating the Effect of the Matching Grant Program for Refugees: An Observational Study Using Matching, Weighting, and the Mantel-Haenszel Test," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 103-133, March.
    20. Anne Britt Djuve & Hanne Cecilie Kavli, 2019. "Refugee integration policy the Norwegian way – why good ideas fail and bad ideas prevail," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 25(1), pages 25-42, February.
    21. Felicitas Schikora, 2019. "The Effect of Initial Placement Restrictions on Refugees' Language Acquisition in Germany," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 1035, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    22. Peder J. Pedersen, 2011. "Social and Labor Market Integration of Ethnic Minorities in Denmark," Chapters, in: Martin Kahanec & Klaus F. Zimmermann (ed.), Ethnic Diversity in European Labor Markets, chapter 4, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    23. Qi, Haodong & Irastorza, Nahikari & Emilsson, Henrik & Bevelander, Pieter, 2019. "Does Integration Policy Integrate? The Employment Effects of Sweden's 2010 Reform of the Introduction Program," IZA Discussion Papers 12594, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    24. Veshi Denard, 2020. "The EU Regulatory Competition in Asylum Law," Central European Journal of Public Policy, Sciendo, vol. 14(1), pages 19-30, June.
    25. Strazzeri, Maurizio, 2021. "Assessing the Role of Asylum Policies in Refugees' Labor Market Integration: The Case of Protection Statuses in the German Asylum System," VfS Annual Conference 2021 (Virtual Conference): Climate Economics 242395, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Immigrants Benefit reduction Unemployment duration;

    JEL classification:

    • E64 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Incomes Policy; Price Policy
    • J18 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Public Policy
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • J38 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Public Policy
    • J58 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Public Policy
    • J65 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment Insurance; Severance Pay; Plant Closings
    • J68 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Public Policy

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