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Local Governance Quality and the Environmental Cost of Forced Migration

Author

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  • Aksoy, Cevat Giray

    (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development)

  • Tumen, Semih

    (Amazon)

Abstract

Can high-quality local governance alleviate the environmental impact of large-scale refugee migration? The recent surge in refugee flows has brought additional challenges to local governments in Europe, the Middle East and certain regions of Africa and Asia. In this paper, we focus on the case of Syrian refugees in Turkey and show that the quality of local governance plays a critical role in mitigating the environmental deterioration. We employ text analysis methods to construct a unique data set on local governance quality from the independent audit reports on municipalities. Using a quasi-experimental econometric strategy, we show that the Syrian refugee influx has worsened environmental outcomes along several dimensions in Turkey. Specifically, we find that the deterioration in environmental outcomes is almost entirely driven by provinces with poor-quality governance. Those provinces fail to invest sufficiently in waste management practices and environmental services in response to increased refugee settlements. We argue that good local governance practices can smooth out the refugee integration process and complement the efforts of central governments.

Suggested Citation

  • Aksoy, Cevat Giray & Tumen, Semih, 2020. "Local Governance Quality and the Environmental Cost of Forced Migration," IZA Discussion Papers 13145, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13145
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    Cited by:

    1. Ajzenman, Nicolás & Aksoy, Cevat Giray & Guriev, Sergei, 2022. "Exposure to transit migration: Public attitudes and entrepreneurship," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    2. Kadigo, Mark Marvin & Maystadt, Jean-Francois, 2023. "How to cope with a refugee population? Evidence from Uganda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    3. Mavisakalyan, Astghik & Minasyan, Anna, 2022. "Mining and Mistrust in Government," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1164, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    4. Aksoy, Cevat Giray & Poutvaara, Panu, 2021. "Refugees' and irregular migrants’ self-selection into Europe," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    5. Yaping Liu & Zhe Huang & Jin Chen & Linlin Nie, 2023. "Diagnosis of the Livelihood Sustainability and Its Obstacle Factors for Poverty-Alleviation-Relocation Residents in Tourism Communities: Data from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-27, April.
    6. Himangshu Dutta, 2023. "The Environmental Aspects of Refugee Crises: Insights from South Asia, Middle East, and Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 913-938, June.
    7. Chunrong Yan & Danyang Di & Guoxiang Li & Jianmei Wang, 2022. "Environmental regulation and the supply efficiency of environmental public services: Evidence from environmental decentralization of 289 cities in China," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(2), pages 515-535, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Syrian refugees; environment; waste management; local governance; text analysis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • H76 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Other Expenditure Categories
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling

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