We examine how immigrants enter the labor market and whether their integration process varies by host country's immigration history. We focus on two countries - Finland and Sweden - that have similar formal institutions, but differ vastly in their past immigration experience. Nevertheless, in...

This paper studies the relationship between past immigration experiences of the host country and the way new immigrants enter the labor market. We focus on two countries - Finland and Sweden - that have similar formal institutions but starkly different immigration histories. In both countries,...

We examine peer effects in welfare use among immigrants to Sweden by exploiting a governmental refugee placement policy. We distinguish between the quantity of contacts - the number of individuals of the same ethnicity - and the quality of contacts - welfare use among members of the ethnic...

This short paper proposes a non-parametric method of accounting for the distribution of background characteristics when testing for segregation in empirical studies. It is shown and exemplified - using data on workplace segregation between immigrants and natives in Sweden - how the method can be...

Recent immigrants tend to locate in ethnic enclaves within metropolitan areas. The economic consequence of living in such enclaves is still an unresolved issue. We use an immigrant policy initiative in Sweden, when government authorities distributed refugee immigrants across locales in a way...

Most previously used measures of immigrant labor market assimilation will be biased if there is non-random emigration of immigrants. We use longitudinal data on immigration to Sweden 1970-1990 to examine the extent and pattern of immigrant emigration and its consequences for measures of...

Many countries consider the residential concentration among immigrants a problem. This paper studies the factors influencing individual location decisions and evaluates a Swedish attempt to change the residential distribution of refugee immigrants in the late 1980's. Despite common perceptions,...

Many developed countries, e.g. the UK, Germany, and Sweden, use or have used settlement policies to direct the inflow of new immigrants away from immigrant dense metropolitan areas. We evaluate a reform of Swedish immigration policy that featured dispersion of refugee immigrants across the...