Germany and the 2015 Refugee Crisis
During the second half of 2015 Germany witnessed a dramatic increase in
the number
of refugees, fueled in particular by the conflict in the Syrian Arab
Republic. Totaling
more than one million people in 2015, this mass arrival of refugees to
Germany is the
largest of its kind since the early 1990s.
Accommodating and providing for these forced migrants entail various
challenges for
Germany, both in the economic realm, and in the political, social, and
legal spheres.
The housing and integration of refugees puts strains on public finances,
social welfare
systems, the education system, as well as real estate and labor markets,
and it raises
issues about domestic social and political cohesion, security and crime,
as well
international quandaries around a fair allocation of refugees.
Because of the currentness of events, however, (even most basic) data on
the mass inflow of refugees to Germany and empirical evidence on the
effects of this inflow are
scarce. As a consequence, little is yet known on how this inflow did
impact German society, domestic politics, and the economy, and how
malleable, in particular, this impact has been to regional variation in
economic conditions and in public policies
governing the regional distribution of refuges and their type of
accommodation.
In this research project, we will explore this question by studying the
impact of the
mass inflow of refugees to Germany in four key areas: (1) electoral
outcomes, (2) real
estate markets, (3) anti-foreign violence and criminal activity by
foreigners, as well as (4) charitable giving, both monetary, in kind,
and through voluntary work.
Publications
Project start:
01. October 2017
Project end:
30. September 2020
Project management:
Prof. Dr. Michael Kvasnicka,
Prof. Dr. Thomas K. Bauer
Project staff:
Prof. Dr. Julia Bredtmann,
Dr. Lisa Höckel
Principal:
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft