We examine how cultural norms shape attitudes toward immigration. Our causal identification relies on comparing students who moved across the East-West border after German reunification with students who moved within former East Germany. Students who moved from East to West became more positive...

The weaknesses of the Common European Asylum System have led to conflicts of interest between the EU's external border states and the main destination countries, such as Germany. After years of negotiations, the reform of the European asylum policy was formally adopted by the European Parliament...

What is the causal effect of conflict on refugees' return and integration? To answer this question, we launched a panel survey of Ukrainian refugees across Europe in June 2022 and combined it with geocoded conflict data. Most refugees plan to return, and initial return intentions strongly...

Integration of immigrants is a two-way process, the success of which depends both on immigrants and on natives. We provide new evidence on the determinants of individual attitudes towards immigration, using data from the 2005 and 2010 waves of the German Socio-Economic Panel. In particular, we...

We analyze self-selection of refugees and irregular migrants and test our theory in the context of the European refugee crisis. Using unique datasets from the International Organization for Migration and Gallup World Polls, we provide the first large-scale evidence on reasons to emigrate, and...

Die Migration nach Europa hält weiter an. Seit der Flüchtlingskrise 2015 hat sich der Druck auf die EU und ihre am stärksten betroffenen Mitgliedstaaten erhöht, Maßnahmen zur Eindämmung der Einwanderung aus Entwicklungsländern zu ergreifen. Sollten die bisherigen Ansätze bei der...

Immigration is one of the most divisive political issues in the United States, the United Kingdom, France and several other Western countries. We estimate the impact of immigration on voting for far-left and far-right candidates in France, using panel data on presidential elections from 1988 to...

This report analyzes self-selection and motivations of emigrants from Denmark, one of the richest and most redistributive welfare states in the world. Authors Ilpo Kauppinen (EconPol Europe, VATT Institute for Economic Research), Till Nikolka (EconPol Europe, ifo Institute, LMU Munich) and Panu...

Early non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPI) significantly reduced the death toll of the Covid-19 pandemic. Yet, there are vast differences in how quickly governments implemented NPIs. In this paper, we analyze the role of public attention, measured as the share of daily Google searches in a...

Early non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPI) significantly reduced the death toll of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, there are vast differences in how quickly governments implemented NPIs. In this paper, we analyze the role of public attention, measured as the share of daily Google searches in a...