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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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    Cited by:

    1. Viola Angelini & Laura Casi & Luca Corazzini, 2015. "Life satisfaction of immigrants: does cultural assimilation matter?," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 28(3), pages 817-844, July.
    2. Ruhose, Jens & Schwerdt, Guido, 2016. "Does early educational tracking increase migrant-native achievement gaps? Differences-in-differences evidence across countries," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 134-154.
    3. Alexander M. Danzer & Carsten Feuerbaum & Marc Piopiunik & Ludger Woessmann, 2018. "Growing up in Ethnic Enclaves: Language Proficiency and Educational Attainment of Immigrant Children," Working Papers 180, Bavarian Graduate Program in Economics (BGPE).
    4. 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.
    5. Martin Lange & Friedhelm Pfeiffer & Gerard J. den Berg, 2017. "Integrating young male refugees: initial evidence from an inclusive soccer project," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 51(1), pages 1-10, December.
    6. 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.
    7. Laliberté, Jean-William, 2019. "Language skill acquisition in immigrant social networks: Evidence from Australia," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 35-45.
    8. 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).
    9. 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).
    10. 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.
    11. Fassio, Claudio & Kalantaryan, Sona & Venturini, Alessandra, 2015. "Human Resources and Innovation: Total Factor Productivity and Foreign Human Capital," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201536, University of Turin.
    12. Braun, Sebastian & Stöhr, Tobias, 2015. "Zur Arbeitsmarktintegration von Flüchtlingen," IfW-Box 2015.24, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW).
    13. Constant, Amelie F. & Schüller, Simone & Zimmermann, Klaus F., 2013. "Ethnic Spatial Dispersion and Immigrant Identity," IZA Discussion Papers 7868, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    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. Silke Uebelmesser & Severin Weingarten, 2017. "A Macro-level Analysis of Adult-age Language Learning," CESifo Working Paper Series 6511, CESifo.
    17. 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.
    18. Fassio, Claudio & Kalantaryan, Sona & Venturini, Alessandra, 2015. "Human Resources and Innovation: Total Factor Productivity and Foreign Human Capital," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201536, University of Turin.
    19. 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.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    guest workers; immigrants; integration; enclaves; political participation; culture; social interaction; natural experiment;

    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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