Refugee Benefit Cuts

Christian Dustmann, Rasmus Landersø and Lars Højsgaard Andersen

American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 2024, vol. 16, issue 2, 406-41

Abstract: This paper analyzes the effects of Denmark's Start Aid welfare reform that targets refugees. Implemented in 2002, it enables us to study not only the reform's immediate effects but also its longer-term consequences and its repeal a decade later. The reform-induced large transfer cuts led to an increase in employment rates, but only in the short run. Overall, the reform increased poverty rates and led to a rise in subsistence crime. Moreover, local demand conditions generate substantial heterogeneity in the reform's effects on immediate and longer-term employment.

JEL-codes: I32 I38 J15 J64 K42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Refugee Benefit Cuts (2023)
Working Paper: Refugee Benefit Cuts (2023)
Working Paper: Refugee Benefit Cuts (2023)
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DOI: 10.1257/pol.20220062

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