Does living in districts with higher levels of ethnic violence affect refugees’ attitudes towards the host country? Empirical evidence from Germany

Abstract

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Using Natural Experiments to Uncover Effects of Anti-Refugee Riots on Attitudes of Refugees

“…We use one attitudinal variable on perceived welcomeness to assess the impact of the Bautzen riots on refugees and examine whether the attack impacted their attitudes towards Germany. This variable provides a holistic measure, particularly given the background of the German ‘welcome culture’ and has been used in previous research (see Frey, 2022; Schwitter and Liebe, 2022). In the survey, refugees are asked how welcome they currently feel in Germany, and they can answer on a scale from 0 (not at all) to 4 (completely).…”

“…However, there was also a dark side in the form of increasing numbers of hate crimes towards refugees and ethnic minorities (Pai, 2020). Little is known about the causal effects of such hate crimes on refugees: While both Ben Farhat et al (2018) and Bouhenia et al (2017) document and describe experiences with violence and psychological distress of refugees using interview data collected in Greece and in France, respectively, and Schwitter and Liebe (2022) use population survey data to provide correlational evidence that refugees feel less positive about Germany in regions with a high accumulated share of arson attacks on refugee homes, the identification of causal effects remains challenging with such data and analytical approaches. A better understanding on how refugees perceive their host country and how this perception can change over time provides important insights into the factors that influence refugees’ social integration and their overall well-being.…”