The Refugee’s Dilemma:Evidence from Jewish Migration out of Nazi Germany

Johannes Buggle, Mathias Thoenig, Thierry Mayer and Seyhun Orcan Sakalli

Cahiers de Recherches Economiques du Département d'économie from Université de Lausanne, Faculté des HEC, Département d’économie

Abstract: In this paper we estimate the push and pull factors involved in the outmigration of Jews facing persecution in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1941 when migration was banned. Our empirical investigation makes use of a unique individual-level dataset that records the migration history of almost the entire universe of Jews living in Germany over the period. Our analysis highlights new channels, specific to violent contexts, through which social networks affect the decision to flee. We first estimate a structural model of migration where individuals base their own migration decision on the observation of persecution and migration among their peers. Identification rests on exogenous variations in push and pull factors across peers who live in different cities of residence. Then we perform various counterfactual policy experiments in order to quantify how migration restrictions in destination countries affected the fate of Jews. For example, removing work restrictions for refugees after the Nuremberg Laws (in 1935) would have led to 27% increase in Jewish migration out of Germany.

Keywords: Refugees; Migration Policy; Antisemitism; Nazi Germany (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D74 F22 F50 N40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 85 pp.
Date: 2020-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-his, nep-mig, nep-soc and nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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http://www.unil.ch/de/files/live/sites/de/files/working-papers/20.01.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: The Refugee’s Dilemma: Evidence from Jewish Migration out of Nazi Germany (2023)
Working Paper: The Refugee's Dilemma: Evidence from Jewish Migration out of Nazi Germany (2023)
Working Paper: The Refugee's Dilemma: Evidence from Jewish Migration out of Nazi Germany (2023)
Working Paper: The Refugee's Dilemma: Evidence from Jewish Migration out of Nazi Germany (2022)
Working Paper: The Refugee's Dilemma: Evidence from Jewish Migration out of Nazi Germany (2022)
Working Paper: The Refugee's Dilemma: Evidence from Jewish Migration out of Nazi Germany (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:lau:crdeep:20.01

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