Forced Migration, Social Cohesion and Conflict : The 2015 Refugee Inflow in Germany
In 2015, Germany welcomed close to one million asylum seekers and refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, the Western Balkans and elsewhere. Although the country was often praised for its welcome culture, the inflow has spurred a debate about identity, s...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2022
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/830181643248457941/Forced-Migration-Social-Cohesion-and-Conflict-The-2015-Refugee-Inflow-in-Germany http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36914 |
| Summary: | In 2015, Germany welcomed close to
one million asylum seekers and refugees from Syria,
Afghanistan, the Western Balkans and elsewhere. Although the
country was often praised for its welcome culture, the
inflow has spurred a debate about identity, social cohesion
and the limits of multiculturalism. This paper analyzes the
effect of this inflow on various dimensions of social
cohesion. To separate causation from correlation, it
exploits the fact that asylum seekers in Germany are
allocated to local areas based on an area’s tax revenues and
population several years prior. Therefore, the allocation is
unrelated to current economic, political or social
conditions. Based on survey data as well as data scraped
from newspapers, the paper documents two sets of results.
First, it finds no effect on self-reported indicators of
trust and perceived fairness, and a small negative effect on
and attitudes towards immigrants. In contrast, it finds that
the refugee inflow led to an increased incidence of
anti-immigrant violence that lasted for about two years.
This increase is larger in areas with higher unemployment
and greater support for right-wing parties. |
|---|