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Refugees and Foreign Direct Investment: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from U.S. Resettlements

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  • Mayda, Anna Maria

    (Georgetown University)

  • Parsons, Christopher

    (University of Western Australia)

  • Pham, Han

    (University of Western Australia)

  • Vézina, Pierre-Louis

    (King's College London)

Abstract

We exploit the designs of two separate U.S. refugee dispersal policies to provide causal evidence that refugees foster outward FDI to their countries of origin. Drawing upon aggregated individual-level refugee and project-level FDI data, we first leverage the quasi-random distribution of refugees "without U.S. ties" after the enactment of the 1980 Refugee Act, to show that outward FDI to refugees' countries of origin grew more from those U.S. commuting zones that hosted greater numbers of refugees after 1990. Secondly, we exploit the specificities of the Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act, which resulted in a quasi-experimental dispersal of Vietnamese refugees in 1975, to provide causal evidence that Vietnamese refugees fostered FDI to their home region, while national domestic reforms in Vietnam amplified the positive FDI-creating effects of the overseas Vietnamese diaspora. Overall, our results highlight a new mechanism through which refugees foster development to their origin countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Mayda, Anna Maria & Parsons, Christopher & Pham, Han & Vézina, Pierre-Louis, 2019. "Refugees and Foreign Direct Investment: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from U.S. Resettlements," IZA Discussion Papers 12860, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
  • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12860
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    2. Peter Bednarek & Daniel Marcel te Kaat & Chang Ma & Alessandro Rebucci, 2021. "Capital Flows, Real Estate, and Local Cycles:Evidence from German Cities, Banks, and Firms," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 34(10), pages 5077-5134.
    3. Jordi Paniagua & Jesús Peiró-Palomino & Andrés J. Picazo-Tadeo, 2021. "Asylum Migration in OECD Countries: In Search of Lost Well-Being," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 153(3), pages 1109-1137, February.
    4. Dreher, Axel & Langlotz, Sarah & Matzat, Johannes & Parsons, Christopher, 2020. "Immigration, Political Ideologies and the Polarization of American Politics," CEPR Discussion Papers 15587, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Michael A. Clemens, 2022. "Migration on the Rise, a Paradigm in Decline: The Last Half-Century of Global Mobility," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 112, pages 257-261, May.
    6. Tan, Man & Yang, Dengyu & Yang, Qijing, 2023. "Institutional quality, asset specificity, and foreign direct investment," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    7. Palsson, Craig, 2023. "The forces of path dependence: Haiti's refugee camps, 1937–2009," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    8. Mensah,Justice Tei & Traore,Nouhoum-000531164, 2022. "Infrastructure Quality and FDI Inflows : Evidence from the Arrival of High-Speed Internet in Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9946, The World Bank.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    refugees; networks; foreign direct investment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F21 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Investment; Long-Term Capital Movements
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business

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