Persecution and Escape: Professional Networks and High-Skilled Emigration from Nazi Germany

Sascha Becker, Volker Lindenthal, Sharun Mukand and Fabian Waldinger
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Volker Lindenthal: SoDa Laboratories, Monash University

No 2021-02, SoDa Laboratories Working Paper Series from Monash University, SoDa Laboratories

Abstract: We study the role of professional networks in facilitating the escape of persecuted academics from Nazi Germany. From 1933, the Nazi regime started to dismiss academics of Jewish origin from their positions. The timing of dismissals created individual-level exogenous variation in the timing of emigration from Nazi Germany, allowing us to estimate the causal effect of networks for emigration decisions. Academics with ties to more colleagues who had emigrated in 1933 or 1934 (early émigrés) were more likely to emigrate. The early émigrés functioned as "bridging nodes" that helped other academics cross over to their destination. Furthermore, we provide some of the first empirical evidence of decay in social ties over time. The strength of ties also decays across space, even within cities. Finally, for high-skilled migrants, professional networks are more important than community networks.

Keywords: Nazi Germany; Networks; Antisemitism; Jewish academics; Emigration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I20 I23 I28 J15 J24 N34 N44 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem and nep-his
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Persecution and Escape: Professional Networks and High-Skilled Emigration from Nazi Germany (2024)
Working Paper: Persecution and Escape: Professional Networks and High-Skilled Emigration from Nazi Germany (2021)
Working Paper: Persecution and Escape: Professional Networks and High-Skilled Emigration from Nazi Germany (2021)
Working Paper: Persecution and Escape: Professional Networks and High-Skilled Emigration from Nazi Germany (2021)
Working Paper: Persecution and Escape: Professional Networks and High-Skilled Emigration from Nazi Germany (2021)
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