This paper studies the persistence of a large, unexpected, and regionally very unevenly distributed population shock, the inflow of eight million ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe to West Germany after World War II. Using detailed census data from 1939 to 1970, we show that the shock had a...

This paper studies the persistence of a large, unexpected, and regionally very unevenly distributed population shock, the inflow of eight million ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe to West Germany after World War II. Using detailed census data from 1939 to 1970, we show that the shock had a...

Die Arbeitsmarktintegration von Flüchtlingen braucht Zeit. Die Beschäftigungsquoten von Flüchtlingen liegen zunächst deutlich unter denen anderer Zuwanderer, steigen dann aber in den ersten zehn bis fünfzehn Jahren nach Zuzug kontinuierlich an. Dennoch bleibt der Arbeitsmarkterfolg von...

This paper studies how the local environment in receiving counties affected the economic, social, and political integration of the eight million expellees who arrived in West Germany after World War II. We first document that integration outcomes differed dramatically across West German...

With 70 million dead, World War II remains the most devastating conflict in history. Of the survivors, millions were displaced, returned maimed from the battlefield, or spent years in captivity. We examine the impact of such wartime experiences on labor market careers and show that they often...