Birthplace Urbanicity and Lifetime Labor-Market Outcomes: Evidence from Forced Migration Due to World War II

Möller, Joachim ()
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Möller, Joachim: University of Regensburg and Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg

No 18725, IZA Discussion Papers from IZA Network @ LISER

Abstract: During and after World War II, West Germany absorbed around eight million refugees and displaced persons, including nearly two million children. This provides a natural experiment to examine whether birthplace characteristics exert persistent effects on later labor-market outcomes. Using administrative labor-market biographies for the 1935–1950 birth cohorts combined with geocoded information on birthplaces and workplaces, we find that birthplace urbanicity is strongly associated with later labor-market outcomes not only among both native-born individuals but also among expellees. Individuals originating from urban regions earn systematically higher daily wages than those born in rural areas, even after controlling for workplace region, education, and occupation. Among displaced individuals, the effects are considerably stronger for women than for men and are especially pronounced for expellees from the Czech lands. The findings suggest that urban-origin advantages were transmitted across generations through education, occupational sorting, and family-specific social and cultural capital.

Keywords: urban origins; forced migration; birthplace effects; lifetime earnings; labor-market outcomes; regional mobility; gender differences; intergenerational transmission (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J24 J61 N34 R12 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-his, nep-lma and nep-mig
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