The Impact of Forced Displacement on Host Communities : A Review of the Empirical Literature in Economics

The paper reviews 49 empirical studies that estimate the impact of forced displacement on host communities. A review of the empirical models used by these studies and a meta-analysis of 762 separate results collected from them are the main contribu...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Verme, Paolo, Schuettler, Kirsten
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2019
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/654811549389186755/The-Impact-of-Forced-Displacement-on-Host-Communities-A-Review-of-the-Empirical-Literature-in-Economics
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31231
id okr-10986-31231
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-312312022-09-20T00:14:19Z The Impact of Forced Displacement on Host Communities : A Review of the Empirical Literature in Economics Verme, Paolo Schuettler, Kirsten REFUGEES DISPLACED PERSONS MIGRATION RETURNEES EXPELLEES ESCAPEES INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSON FORCED DISPLACEMENT LABOR MARKET WAGES EMPLOYMENT WELLBEING UNEMPLOYMENT PRICES The paper reviews 49 empirical studies that estimate the impact of forced displacement on host communities. A review of the empirical models used by these studies and a meta-analysis of 762 separate results collected from them are the main contributions of the paper. Coverage extends to 17 major forced displacement crises that occurred between 1922 and 2015, to host countries at different levels of economic development and different types of forced migrants. The focus is on outcomes related to household well-being, prices, employment, and wages. All studies can be classified as ex post quasi-natural experiments. The analysis on empirical modeling shows a preference for partial equilibrium modeling, differences-in-differences evaluation methods, and cross-section econometrics, with all these choices largely dependent on the type of data available. The meta-analysis on household well-being shows that between 45 and 52 percent of the results are positive and significant, indicating a net improvement in household well-being. An additional 34 to 42 percent of the results are found to be nonsignificant, and 6 to 20 percent show a decrease in household well-being. The analyses on employment and wages show positive and significant improvements for 12 to 20 percent of the results, nonsignificant results in 63 percent of the cases, and negative and significant results for 22 to 25 percent of the results. Negative results on employment and wages relate to young and informal workers in middle-income countries. The results on prices show asymmetric behavior across types of products. Overall, the probability of having a negative outcome for host communities in the consumer and labor markets is below 20 percent. 2019-02-07T17:48:57Z 2019-02-07T17:48:57Z 2019-02 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/654811549389186755/The-Impact-of-Forced-Displacement-on-Host-Communities-A-Review-of-the-Empirical-Literature-in-Economics http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31231 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8727 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic REFUGEES
DISPLACED PERSONS
MIGRATION
RETURNEES
EXPELLEES
ESCAPEES
INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSON
FORCED DISPLACEMENT
LABOR MARKET
WAGES
EMPLOYMENT
WELLBEING
UNEMPLOYMENT
PRICES
spellingShingle REFUGEES
DISPLACED PERSONS
MIGRATION
RETURNEES
EXPELLEES
ESCAPEES
INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSON
FORCED DISPLACEMENT
LABOR MARKET
WAGES
EMPLOYMENT
WELLBEING
UNEMPLOYMENT
PRICES
Verme, Paolo
Schuettler, Kirsten
The Impact of Forced Displacement on Host Communities : A Review of the Empirical Literature in Economics
relation Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8727
description The paper reviews 49 empirical studies that estimate the impact of forced displacement on host communities. A review of the empirical models used by these studies and a meta-analysis of 762 separate results collected from them are the main contributions of the paper. Coverage extends to 17 major forced displacement crises that occurred between 1922 and 2015, to host countries at different levels of economic development and different types of forced migrants. The focus is on outcomes related to household well-being, prices, employment, and wages. All studies can be classified as ex post quasi-natural experiments. The analysis on empirical modeling shows a preference for partial equilibrium modeling, differences-in-differences evaluation methods, and cross-section econometrics, with all these choices largely dependent on the type of data available. The meta-analysis on household well-being shows that between 45 and 52 percent of the results are positive and significant, indicating a net improvement in household well-being. An additional 34 to 42 percent of the results are found to be nonsignificant, and 6 to 20 percent show a decrease in household well-being. The analyses on employment and wages show positive and significant improvements for 12 to 20 percent of the results, nonsignificant results in 63 percent of the cases, and negative and significant results for 22 to 25 percent of the results. Negative results on employment and wages relate to young and informal workers in middle-income countries. The results on prices show asymmetric behavior across types of products. Overall, the probability of having a negative outcome for host communities in the consumer and labor markets is below 20 percent.
format Working Paper
author Verme, Paolo
Schuettler, Kirsten
author_facet Verme, Paolo
Schuettler, Kirsten
author_sort Verme, Paolo
title The Impact of Forced Displacement on Host Communities : A Review of the Empirical Literature in Economics
title_short The Impact of Forced Displacement on Host Communities : A Review of the Empirical Literature in Economics
title_full The Impact of Forced Displacement on Host Communities : A Review of the Empirical Literature in Economics
title_fullStr The Impact of Forced Displacement on Host Communities : A Review of the Empirical Literature in Economics
title_full_unstemmed The Impact of Forced Displacement on Host Communities : A Review of the Empirical Literature in Economics
title_sort impact of forced displacement on host communities : a review of the empirical literature in economics
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2019
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/654811549389186755/The-Impact-of-Forced-Displacement-on-Host-Communities-A-Review-of-the-Empirical-Literature-in-Economics
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31231
_version_ 1764473847964237824