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Do Ethnic Enclaves Impede Immigrants' Integration? Evidence from a Quasi-Experimental Social-Interaction Approach

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  • Danzer, Alexander M.

    (Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt)

  • Yaman, Firat

    (City University London)

Abstract

It is widely debated whether immigrants who live among co-ethnics are less willing to integrate into the host society. Exploiting the quasi-experimental guest worker placement across German regions during the 1960/70s as well as information on immigrants' inter-ethnic contact networks and social activities, we are able to identify the causal effect of ethnic concentration on social integration. The exogenous placement of immigrants "switches off" observable and unobservable differences in the willingness or ability to integrate which have confounded previous studies. Evidence suggests that the presence of co-ethnics increases migrants' interaction cost with natives and thus reduces the likelihood of integration.

Suggested Citation

  • Danzer, Alexander M. & Yaman, Firat, 2012. "Do Ethnic Enclaves Impede Immigrants' Integration? Evidence from a Quasi-Experimental Social-Interaction Approach," IZA Discussion Papers 6939, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6939
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    8. Stips, Felix & Kis-Katos, Krisztina, 2020. "Ethnic Networks and the Employment of Asylum Seekers: Evidence from Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 12903, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Augustin de Coulon & Dragos Radu & Max Friedrich Steinhardt, 2016. "Pane e Cioccolata: The Impact of Native Attitudes on Return Migration," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 253-281, May.
    10. Alessandra Venturini & Claudio Fassio & Sona Kalantaryan, 2015. "Human Resources and Innovation: Total Factor Productivity and Foreign Human Capital," Discussion Papers 29, Central European Labour Studies Institute (CELSI).
    11. Wiedner, Jonas & Schaeffer, Merlin & Carol, Sarah, 2022. "Ethno-religious neighbourhood infrastructures and the life satisfaction of immigrants and their descendants in Germany," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 59(14), pages 2985-3004.
    12. Ann-Marie Sommerfeld, 2023. "The Effect of Schooling on Parental Integration: Evidence from Germany," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 1198, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    13. Ann-Marie Sommerfeld, 2023. "The Effect of Schooling on Parental Integration," Jena Economics Research Papers 2023-018, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    14. Bonin, Holger & Rinne, Ulf, 2017. "Machbarkeitsstudie zur Durchführung einer Evaluation der arbeitsmarktpolitischen Integrationsmaßnahmen für Flüchtlinge," IZA Research Reports 76, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Strom, Steinar & Venturini, Alessandra & Villosio, Claudia, 2013. "Wage Assimilation: Migrants versus Natives and Foreign Migrants versus Internal Migrants," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201341, University of Turin.
    16. Danzer, Alexander M. & Yaman, Firat, 2016. "Ethnic concentration and language fluency of immigrants: Evidence from the guest-worker placement in Germany," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 131(PA), pages 151-165.
    17. Claudio Fassio & Sona Kalantaryan & Alessandra Venturini, 2020. "Foreign Human Capital and Total Factor Productivity: A Sectoral Approach," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 66(3), pages 613-646, September.
    18. Felix Stips & Krisztina Kis-Katos, 2020. "The impact of co-national networks on asylum seekers’ employment: Quasi-experimental evidence from Germany," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(8), pages 1-22, August.
    19. Laliberté, Jean-William, 2019. "Language skill acquisition in immigrant social networks: Evidence from Australia," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 35-45.
    20. Boysen-Hogrefe, Jens & Fiedler, Salomon & Groll, Dominik & Jannsen, Nils & Kooths, Stefan & Plödt, Martin & Potjagailo, Galina, 2015. "Deutsche Konjunktur im Winter 2015 - Aufschwung gewinnt wieder an Fahrt [German Economy Winter 2015 - The German economy is regaining momentum]," Kieler Konjunkturberichte 14, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    21. Matz Dahlberg & Madhinee Valeyatheepillay, 2019. "On the Anatomy of a Refugee Dispersal Policy: Neighborhood Integration and Dynamic Sorting," ifo Working Paper Series 285, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    22. Braun, Sebastian & Stöhr, Tobias, 2015. "Zur Arbeitsmarktintegration von Flüchtlingen," Kiel Insight 2015.24, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    23. Silke Uebelmesser & Severin Weingarten, 2017. "A Macro-level Analysis of Adult-age Language Learning," CESifo Working Paper Series 6511, CESifo.
    24. Jens Ruhose, 2015. "Microeconometric Analyses on Economic Consequences of Selective Migration," ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 61.
    25. Maruszewski Wojciech & Kaczmarczyk Paweł, 2020. "Economic Integration and Migrant Networks: The Case of Ukrainian Migrants in the Warsaw Agglomeration," Central European Economic Journal, Sciendo, vol. 7(54), pages 258-278, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    guest workers; immigrants; integration; enclaves; political participation; culture; social interaction; natural experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

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