Refugee migration, unemployment and anti-asylum attitudes: Evidence from the 1990s Yugoslav refugee crisis

Marco Pecoraro, Bruno Lanz and Didier Ruedin

No 25-03, IRENE Working Papers from IRENE Institute of Economic Research

Abstract: This paper examines the short- to long-term effects of large-scale refugee inflows on labour markets and anti-asylum attitudes. Using the exogenous arrival of Yugoslav refugees to Switzerland in the 1990s and municipal-level data with an instrumental variables strategy, we find that refugee exposure increased unemployment and anti-asylum voting in the short term. Over a decade later, the refugee shock is no longer correlated with unemployment, whereas anti-asylum attitudes not only decline but reverse in areas with higher initial exposure, notably in rural municipalities. These results highlight the temporary nature of labour market disruptions and the longer-term shift in anti-asylum attitudes consistent with contact theory.

Keywords: Refugees; Forced Migration; Unemployment; Labour Market Effects; Anti-Asylum Attitudes; Voting Behaviour; Contact Theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 F22 J15 J61 J68 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 36 pages.
Date: 2025-03
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www5.unine.ch/RePEc/ftp/irn/pdfs/WP25-03.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:irn:wpaper:25-03

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IRENE Working Papers from IRENE Institute of Economic Research Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Siwar Khelifa ().