Is there a Refugee Gap? Evidence from Over a Century of Danish Naturalizations

Paul Sharp and Nina Boberg-Fazlic

No 15183, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: The "refugee gap" in the economic status of refugees relative to other migrants might be due to the experience of being a refugee, or to government policy, which often denies the right to work during lengthy application processes. In Denmark before the Second World War, however, refugees were not treated differently from other migrants, motivating our use of a database of the universe of Danish naturalizations between 1851 and 1960. We consider labor market performance and find that immigrants leaving conflicts fared no worse than other migrants, conditional on other characteristics, within this relatively homogenous sample of those who attained citizenship. Refugees must be provided with the same rights as other migrants if policy aims to ensure their economic success.

Keywords: Asylum policy; Denmark; Immigration; Naturalizations; Refugee gap (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F22 J61 N33 N34 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Is there a refugee gap? Evidence from over a century of Danish naturalizations (2024)
Working Paper: Is there a Refugee Gap? Evidence from Over a Century of Danish Naturalizations (2020)
Working Paper: Is there a Refugee Gap? Evidence from Over a Century of Danish Naturalizations (2020)
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