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Do Ethnic Enclaves Impede Immigrants' Integration? Evidence from a Quasi-Experimental Social-Interaction Approach

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Listed author(s):
  • 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.

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Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 6939.

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Length: 27 pages
Date of creation: Oct 2012
Publication status: published in: Review of International Economics, 2013, 21 (2), 311–325
Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6939
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Keywords: guest workers; immigrants; integration; enclaves; political participation; culture; social interaction; natural experiment;

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Find related papers by 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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  1. David M. Cutler & Edward L. Glaeser & Jacob L. Vigdor, 2008. "Is the Melting Pot Still Hot? Explaining the Resurgence of Immigrant Segregation," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(3), pages 478-497, August.
  2. Alexander M. Danzer & Hulya Ulku, 2011. "Integration, Social Networks and Economic Success of Immigrants: A Case Study of the Turkish Community in Berlin," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(3), pages 342-365, 08.
  3. Thomas Bauer & Gil Epstein & Ira Gang, 2005. "Enclaves, language, and the location choice of migrants," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 18(4), pages 649-662, November.
  4. Chiswick, Barry R, 1978. "The Effect of Americanization on the Earnings of Foreign-born Men," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 86(5), pages 897-921, October.
  5. István Kónya, 2006. "Modeling Cultural Barriers in International Trade," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(3), pages 494-507, 08.
  6. Christian Dustmann, 1996. "The social assimilation of immigrants," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 9(1), pages 37-54, February.
  7. Amelie F. Constant & Klaus F. Zimmermann, 2008. "Measuring Ethnic Identity and its Impact on Economic Behavior," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 6(2-3), pages 424-433, 04-05.
  8. Edward P. Lazear, 1999. "Culture and Language," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 107(S6), pages 95-126, December.
  9. Christian Dustmann & Francesca Fabbri, 2003. "Language proficiency and labour market performance of immigrants in the UK," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(489), pages 695-717, 07.
  10. Paolo E. Giordani & Michele Ruta, 2011. "The Immigration Policy Puzzle," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(5), pages 922-935, November.
  11. Alberto Bisin & Eleonora Patacchini & Thierry Verdier & Yves Zenou, 2008. "Are Muslim Immigrants Different in Terms of Cultural Integration?," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 6(2-3), pages 445-456, 04-05.
  12. Dustmann, Christian, 1994. "Speaking Fluency, Writing Fluency and Earnings of Migrants," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 7(2), pages 133-156.
  13. Chiswick, Barry R & Miller, Paul M, 1996. "Ethnic Networks and Language Proficiency among Immigrants," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 9(1), pages 19-35, February.
  14. Casey Warman, 2007. "Ethnic enclaves and immigrant earnings growth," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 40(2), pages 401-422, May.
  15. Alan Manning & Sanchari Roy, 2010. "Culture Clash or Culture Club? National Identity in Britain," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 120(542), pages 72-100, 02.
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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. Lange, Martin & Pfeiffer, Friedhelm & van den Berg, Gerard J., 2017. "Integrating young male refugees: Initial evidence from an inclusive soccer project," ZEW Discussion Papers 17-016, ZEW - Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung / Center for European Economic Research.
  4. 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.
  5. Constant, Amelie F. & Schüller, Simone & Zimmermann, Klaus F., 2013. "Ethnic Spatial Dispersion and Immigrant Identity," IZA Discussion Papers 7868, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  6. 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.
  7. Silke Uebelmesser & Severin Weingarten, 2017. "A Macro-level Analysis of Adult-age Language Learning," CESifo Working Paper Series 6511, CESifo Group Munich.
  8. 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.

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