IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/pubeco/v220y2023ics0047272723000221.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Intergenerational spillover effects of language training for refugees

Author

Listed:
  • Foged, Mette
  • Hasager, Linea
  • Peri, Giovanni
  • Arendt, Jacob Nielsen
  • Bolvig, Iben

Abstract

Children of refugees are among the most economically disadvantaged youth in several European countries. They are more likely to drop out of school and to commit crime. We find that a reform in Denmark in 1999 that expanded language training for adult refugees and was shown to improve their earnings and job market outcomes permanently, also increased lower secondary school completion rates and decreased juvenile crime rates for their children. The crime effect is entirely due to boys who were below school age when their parents received language training. The older cohorts who were in elementary school when their parents received language training performed better in lower secondary school. Boys were more likely to finish lower secondary school and to sit the final exams, and girls achieved higher grade point averages in the exams.

Suggested Citation

  • Foged, Mette & Hasager, Linea & Peri, Giovanni & Arendt, Jacob Nielsen & Bolvig, Iben, 2023. "Intergenerational spillover effects of language training for refugees," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:220:y:2023:i:c:s0047272723000221
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2023.104840
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047272723000221
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2023.104840?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Currie, Janet & Thomas, Duncan, 1999. "Does Head Start help hispanic children?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 235-262, November.
    2. Marianne Bertrand & Jessica Pan, 2013. "The Trouble with Boys: Social Influences and the Gender Gap in Disruptive Behavior," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 5(1), pages 32-64, January.
    3. Thomas Cornelissen & Christian Dustmann & Anna Raute & Uta Schönberg, 2018. "Who Benefits from Universal Child Care? Estimating Marginal Returns to Early Child Care Attendance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 126(6), pages 2356-2409.
    4. 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.
    5. Alexander M. Danzer & Carsten Feuerbaum & Marc Piopiunik & Ludger Woessmann, 2022. "Growing up in ethnic enclaves: language proficiency and educational attainment of immigrant children," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(3), pages 1297-1344, July.
    6. George J. Borjas, 2021. "Ethnic Capital And Intergenerational Mobility," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Foundational Essays in Immigration Economics, chapter 6, pages 107-134, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    7. Mathias Fjaellegaard Jensen & Alan Manning, 2022. "Background matters, but not whether parents are immigrants: outcomes of children born in Denmark," CEP Discussion Papers dp1880, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    8. Azlor, Luz & Damm, Anna Piil & Schultz-Nielsen, Marie Louise, 2020. "Local labour demand and immigrant employment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    9. Courtney Brell & Christian Dustmann & Ian Preston, 2020. "The Labor Market Integration of Refugee Migrants in High-Income Countries," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 34(1), pages 94-121, Winter.
    10. Raj Chetty & John N Friedman & Emmanuel Saez & Nicholas Turner & Danny Yagan, 2020. "Income Segregation and Intergenerational Mobility Across Colleges in the United States," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(3), pages 1567-1633.
    11. Brian Bell & Rui Costa & Stephen Machin, 2022. "Why Does Education Reduce Crime?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 130(3), pages 732-765.
    12. Christian Dustmann & Tommaso Frattini & Gianandrea Lanzara, 2012. "Educational achievement of second-generation immigrants: an international comparison [The economic situation of first and second-generation immigrants in France, Germany and the United Kingdom]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 27(69), pages 143-185.
    13. Sebastian Calonico & Matias D. Cattaneo & Max H. Farrell & Rocío Titiunik, 2019. "Regression Discontinuity Designs Using Covariates," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 101(3), pages 442-451, July.
    14. Mette Foged & Linea Hasager & Giovanni Peri, 2024. "Comparing the Effects of Policies for the Labor Market Integration of Refugees," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 42(S1), pages 335-377.
    15. Sandra E. Black & Paul J. Devereux & Kjell G. Salvanes, 2005. "Why the Apple Doesn't Fall Far: Understanding Intergenerational Transmission of Human Capital," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(1), pages 437-449, March.
    16. Anna Piil Damm & Christian Dustmann, 2014. "Does Growing Up in a High Crime Neighborhood Affect Youth Criminal Behavior?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(6), pages 1806-1832, June.
    17. Andrew Gelman & Guido Imbens, 2019. "Why High-Order Polynomials Should Not Be Used in Regression Discontinuity Designs," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(3), pages 447-456, July.
    18. Black, Sandra E. & Devereux, Paul J., 2011. "Recent Developments in Intergenerational Mobility," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 16, pages 1487-1541, Elsevier.
    19. Raj Chetty & Nathaniel Hendren & Frina Lin & Jeremy Majerovitz & Benjamin Scuderi, 2016. "Childhood Environment and Gender Gaps in Adulthood," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(5), pages 282-288, May.
    20. Brian Bell & Francesco Fasani & Stephen Machin, 2013. "Crime and Immigration: Evidence from Large Immigrant Waves," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(4), pages 1278-1290, October.
    21. Michela Carlana & Eliana La Ferrara & Paolo Pinotti, 2022. "Reply to: Comments on “Goals and Gaps: Educational Careers of Immigrant Children”," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 90(1), pages 43-46, January.
    22. David Autor & David Figlio & Krzysztof Karbownik & Jeffrey Roth & Melanie Wasserman, 2019. "Family Disadvantage and the Gender Gap in Behavioral and Educational Outcomes," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(3), pages 338-381, July.
    23. Michela Carlana & Eliana La Ferrara & Paolo Pinotti, 2022. "Goals and Gaps: Educational Careers of Immigrant Children," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 90(1), pages 1-29, January.
    24. Matti Sarvimäki & Hanna Pesola, 2022. "Intergenerational Spillovers of Integration Policies: Evidence from Finland’s Integration Plans," RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series 2212, Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM).
    25. Foged, Mette & van der Werf, Cynthia, 2023. "Access to language training and the local integration of refugees," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    26. Björklund, Anders & Salvanes, Kjell G., 2011. "Education and Family Background: Mechanisms and Policies," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & Stephen Machin & Ludger Woessmann (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 3, pages 201-247, Elsevier.
    27. Christina Felfe & Martin Huber, 2017. "Does preschool boost the development of minority children?: the case of Roma children," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 180(2), pages 475-502, February.
    28. repec:oup:ecpoli:v:27:y:2012:i:69:p:143-185 is not listed on IDEAS
    29. Piopiunik, Marc & Ruhose, Jens, 2017. "Immigration, regional conditions, and crime: Evidence from an allocation policy in Germany," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 258-282.
    30. Ran Abramitzky & Leah Boustan & Elisa Jacome & Santiago Perez, 2021. "Intergenerational Mobility of Immigrants in the United States over Two Centuries," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(2), pages 580-608, February.
    31. Heckman, James & Landersø, Rasmus, 2022. "Lessons for Americans from Denmark about inequality and social mobility," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    32. David S. Lee & Thomas Lemieux, 2010. "Regression Discontinuity Designs in Economics," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(2), pages 281-355, June.
    33. 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).
    34. Pesola, Hanna Onerva & Sarvimäki, Matti, 2022. "Intergenerational Spillovers of Integration Policies: Evidence from Finland's Integration Plans," IZA Discussion Papers 15310, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. 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.
    2. Stephen Machin & Matteo Sandi & Steve Machin, 2024. "Crime and Education," CESifo Working Paper Series 11450, CESifo.
    3. Cole, Matthew A. & Jabbour, Liza & Ozgen, Ceren & Yumoto, Hiromi, 2024. "Refugees' Economic Integration and Firms," IZA Discussion Papers 16828, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. 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.
    2. Akgündüz, Yusuf Emre & Akyol, Pelin & Aydemir, Abdurrahman B. & Demirci, Murat & Kirdar, Murat Güray, 2023. "Maternal Education and Early Child Development: The Roles of Parental Support for Learning, Learning Materials, and Father Characteristics," IZA Discussion Papers 16328, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Bautista, María Angélica & Gonzalez, Felipe & Martinez, Luis R. & Muñoz, Pablo & Prem, Mounu, 2022. "The Intergenerational Transmission of College: Evidence from the 1973 Coup in Chile," SocArXiv eyw2a, Center for Open Science.
    4. Ahrens, Achim & Beerli, Andreas & Hangartner, Dominik & Kurer, Selina & Siegenthaler, Michael, 2023. "The Labor Market Effects of Restricting Refugees' Employment Opportunities," IZA Discussion Papers 15901, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Glitz, Albrecht & Rapoport, Hillel, 2024. "Introduction to the Labour Economics special issue on immigration economics," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    6. Mathias Fjaellegaard Jensen & Alan Manning, 2022. "Background matters, but not whether parents are immigrants: outcomes of children born in Denmark," CEP Discussion Papers dp1880, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    7. Foged, Mette & van der Werf, Cynthia, 2023. "Access to language training and the local integration of refugees," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    8. Steffen Müller & Regina T. Riphahn & Caroline Schwientek, 2017. "Paternal unemployment during childhood: causal effects on youth worklessness and educational attainment," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 69(1), pages 213-238.
    9. 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.
    10. Kunz, Johannes S. & Zhu, Anna, 2023. "Welfare Reform and Migrant's Long-Term Labor Market Integration," IZA Discussion Papers 16285, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Dahlberg, Matz & Egebark, Johan & Vikman, Ulrika & Özcan, Gülay, 2024. "Labor market integration of refugees: RCT evidence from an early intervention program in Sweden," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 217(C), pages 614-630.
    12. van der Weide, Roy & Lakner, Christoph & Mahler, Daniel Gerszon & Narayan, Ambar & Gupta, Rakesh, 2024. "Intergenerational mobility around the world: A new database," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    13. Johannes Kunz & Anna Zhu, 2023. "Welfare Reform and Migrant’s Long-term Labor Market Integration," Papers 2023-05, Centre for Health Economics, Monash University.
    14. Akgündüz, Yusuf Emre & Akyol, Pelin & Aydemir, Abdurrahman B. & Demirci, Murat & Kirdar, Murat Güray, 2024. "Intergenerational Effects of Compulsory Schooling Reform on Early Childhood Development in a Middle-Income Country," IZA Discussion Papers 17249, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Cornelissen, Thomas & Dang, Thang, 2022. "The multigenerational impacts of educational expansion: Evidence from Vietnam," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    16. Arnaud Chevalier & Colm Harmon & Vincent O’ Sullivan & Ian Walker, 2013. "The impact of parental income and education on the schooling of their children," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 2(1), pages 1-22, December.
    17. Aksoy, Cevat Giray & Poutvaara, Panu & Schikora, Felicitas, 2023. "First time around: Local conditions and multi-dimensional integration of refugees," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    18. Amin, Vikesh & Lundborg, Petter & Rooth, Dan-Olof, 2015. "The intergenerational transmission of schooling: Are mothers really less important than fathers?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 100-117.
    19. Martti Kaila & Emily Nix & Krista Riukula, 2021. "Disparate Impacts of Job Loss by Parental Income and Implications for Intergenerational Mobility," Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute Working Papers 53, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    20. Quinckhardt, Matthias, 2023. "The value of a party: Local politics and the allocation of intergovernmental transfers," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Intergenerational Effects of Integration Policy; Immigrant children; Language skills; Regression discontinuity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J60 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - General
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • E64 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Incomes Policy; Price Policy
    • I30 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:220:y:2023:i:c:s0047272723000221. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505578 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.