This article discusses trade and investment links forged by refugees between their countries of resettlement and countries of origin, drawing on findings from the literature on migrants and refugees.
JDC Literature Review
Results for: Macroeconomic Impacts
Refugee-Host Proximity and Market Creation in Uganda
This paper analyses how proximity to refugees affects the welfare and economic activity of host communities in Uganda. Uganda hosts more than 1.4 million refugees, living across 31 settlements in 13 districts. Despite their freedom of movement, most refugees remain in official settlements to access assistance from national and international agencies.
Forced migration: evidence and policy challenges
This article presents a summary of Volume 38, Issue 3 of the Oxford Review of Economic Policy, which focuses on forced migration. The issue explores: (1) what are the mechanisms by which refugees should be managed, and what frameworks should be used for supporting them? (2) how can policy support the integration of refugees into host economies and what are the likely consequences of this integration? (3) how are host communities likely to respond to the influx of refugees, and how can policy help to smooth this transition? And (4) what role can policy play to encourage resilience among refugees and IDPs and support their return?
Immediate health and economic impact of the Tigray war on internally displaced persons and hosting households
This paper examines the socioeconomic situation of IDPs and their host communities in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. Conflict broke out in the Tigray region of Ethiopia in late 2020, causing the displacement of 2.1 million people within the region.
Regional Spillovers from the Venezuelan Crisis: Migration Flows and Their Impact on Latin America and the Caribbean
This paper evaluates the economic impacts of Venezuelan migrants on host countries and the implications for future policy responses. Since August 2022, nearly 7 million Venezuelans (23 percent of the population) have fled their country due to economic collapse (a contraction of over 75 percent of real GDP), deteriorating basic services, and insecurity.
Latin American Brotherhood? Immigration and Preferences for Redistribution
This paper examines the effect of immigration on social preferences for redistribution in Latin America, including the specific effect of large-scale Venezuelan displacement to Colombia. Most immigration in Latin American countries is intra-regional (70 percent in the 2010s), with migrants coming from countries with similar cultural backgrounds, including language and religion.
Somali Refugees in Kenya: Increasing camp-urban mobility
This working paper examines the wellbeing and ‘displacement economies’ of Somali refugees living in protracted displacement in Kenya, comparing those living in camps to those living in urban areas. Kenya is home to approximately 280,000 Somali refugees, of whom 230,000 live in the Dadaab refugee camp complex in Garissa County, and around 24,000 living in the Eastleigh neighborhood of Nairobi. The research was conducted during the period when the 2006 Refugee Act, which enforced Kenya’s encampment policy, was still in effect. Kenya has since adopted a new Refugee Act in 2021 (which came into force in 2022) that provides for the establishment of ‘designated areas’ for refugees but does not explicitly contain an encampment requirement.
Mass Refugee Inflow and Long-run Prosperity: Lessons from the Greek Population Resettlement
This paper examines the long-term impact of the 1923 forced resettlement of 1.2 million Greek-Orthodox citizens of Turkey to Greece in the aftermath of the Greco-Turkish war. The mass resettlement of refugees increased the host population in Greece by more than 20...
Macroeconomic Evidence Suggests that Asylum Seekers are Not a “Burden” for Western European Countries
This paper aims to quantify the economic and fiscal effects of inflows of asylum seekers into Western European countries from 1985 to 2015. Using an empirical methodology to estimate the macroeconomic effects of structural shocks and policies, the authors examine...