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Assimilating Immigrants: The Impact of an Integration Program

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  • Matti Sarvimäki

    (Aalto University School of Economics, Government Institute for Economic Research and London School of Economics)

  • Kari Hämäläinen

    (Government Institute for Economic Research)

Abstract

Immigration policy design is an important and controversial topic in most developed countries. We inform this debate by evaluating the effects of an integration program for immigrants to Finland. The program consists of an individualized sequence of training and subsidized employment. Non-compliance is sanctioned by reductions in welfare benefits. Our empirical strategy exploits a discontinuity that made participation obligatory in May 1999 only for those who had entered the population register after May 1997. The results suggest that the program strongly increased the employment and earnings of immigrants and reduced their dependency on social benefits.

Suggested Citation

  • Matti Sarvimäki & Kari Hämäläinen, 2011. "Assimilating Immigrants: The Impact of an Integration Program," Norface Discussion Paper Series 2011015, Norface Research Programme on Migration, Department of Economics, University College London.
    • Handle: RePEc:nor:wpaper:2011015
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Eskil Heinesen & Leif Husted & Michael Rosholm, 2013. "The effects of active labour market policies for immigrants receiving social assistance in Denmark," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 2(1), pages 1-22, December.
    2. Bonin, Holger & Rinne, Ulf, 2017. "Machbarkeitsstudie zur Durchführung einer Evaluation der arbeitsmarktpolitischen Integrationsmaßnahmen für Flüchtlinge," IZA Research Reports 76, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. 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).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Immigrants; assimilation; integration programs; regression-discontinuity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • J68 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Public Policy
    • H53 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs

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