International Researchers Discuss New Developments in Migration Research at ZEW

The Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) organised the first international ZEW Workshop on Assimilation and Integration of Immigrants in Mannheim on October 13-14, 2016. Around 25 national and international researchers attended the workshop and discussed new developments in migration research.

A special emphasis was placed on the impact that migration has both on immigrants themselves and on the host country. The workshop featured cutting-edge migration research presented by a total of 19 economists, whose work had been reviewed by an international scientific committee prior to the event. The six sessions provided an opportunity to discuss a number of currently hotly debated topics, including forced migration to Europe, the assimilation process of immigrants, the effect naturalization has on the labour market, and education outcomes for immigrants. Furthermore, the participants discussed how migration might change preferences for redistribution of income and therefore for income inequality.

Renowned scholars discuss latest migration research

The keynotes held by Francesc Ortega, professor at Queens College, New York, and Ewen Macleod, head of the Policy Development and Evaluation Services at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), marked the highlights of the workshop. Ortega presented an overview of immigration from a political economy perspective, as well as his research findings on the influence of immigration regarding the use and the quality of public education in Spain. He showed that the demand for public education increases as a result of immigration. Whether the quality of public education deteriorates or increases due to immigration depends on immigrants’ preferences for education. In the long-run, when immigrants acquire voting rights, the amount of public spending on education will depend on the importance immigrant families attach to education, since the voters’ preferences are taken into account by the government. If the preferences for public education are high, so will be the quality of public education in the long-run. Macleod spoke about global implications of forced displacement and shared his personal and UNHCR’s view on this global challenge. He provided first results of a joint study with the World Bank on refugee flows and engaged in a lively discussion on how to tackle the current challenges in forced displacement.

ZEW researchers strongly involved in current migration research

The Workshop on Assimilation and Integration complements a strong research line at ZEW. In its interdisciplinary project “Real-World Lab Asylum”, ZEW is already engaged in analysing the integration potential of refugees residing in the Rhine-Neckar region into the labour market. The workshop provided a great opportunity to promote ZEW’s ongoing work in this research strand and share it with the international scientific community.