Essays on the Impacts of Immigration in Germany

Abstract

In this dissertation, I examine the impact of recent immigration to Germany on various outcomes. I explore the often-overlooked benefits migrants can bring to host countries, as well as policies which may facilitate integration and maximize the efficiency gains from immigration.

The immigration literature often studies how the composition and magnitude of immigrant influxes impact host economies. In Chapter 1, in the context of the 2015-2018 "refugee crisis" in Germany, I show it is not only how many refugees that arrive that matters, but also the type of legal status, or "protection", refugees are given post-arrival which has an impact on both the refugees themselves and their host societies. Refugees given a less secure legal status, subsidiary protection, face a higher threat of deportation, leaving them and their potential employers with uncertainty which hinders integration into host labor markets and societies and increases refugees' reliance on state welfare.

In Chapter 2, I examine the same topic as in Chapter 1 but using microdata rather than aggregate data. In 2016, the German Federal Office of Migration and Refugees changed its policies regarding the determination of asylum cases due to a court case decision calling for the increasing use of subsidiary protection. Utilizing this policy shift for identification, I find subsidiary protection leads to worse labor market outcomes and less human capital investment for refugees.

Finally, in Chapter 3, I look at immigration in the context of changing demography. Germany, together with many other countries worldwide, is experiencing dramatic population aging, and the demand for inpatient long-term care services is increasing. I exploit variation in the share of immigrants across districts through time and find increasing the share of migrants in a district decreases the price of inpatient long-term care services. I show this price decrease is not driven by changes in demand for care services but rather through reductions in the wages of personal care workers.