Economic Migration and Integration Research
Short description
The department studies global and European migration processes and aspects of economic integration as well as consequences of migration from a micro- and macroeconomic perspective.
New patterns of migration
With the reduction of transportation and communication costs, but also the increasing political
and ethnic conflicts, patterns of migration have changed, both quantitatively and qualitatively.
Thus, from a macro perspective, an increasingly higher volatility and lower spatial stability
of migration flows, which from a micro perspective are reflected in an increase in the frequency of migration episodes in the life course and of transnational biographies.
New migration routes and patterns have also emerged with violence, persecution and displacement,
which are still insufficiently researched.
Against this background, the department uses macro data and microeconomic datasets such as the IAB-SOEP migration sample and the IAB-BAMF-SOEP survey of refugees and new econometric methods to investigate the quantitative and qualitative changes in migration patterns and processes.
The economic integration of migrants
Together with the Labor Market, Migration and Integration Department, the department investigates various aspects of the economic integration and participation of migrants, pursuing a number of cross-departmental projects and activities.
Based primarily on microdata, the department examines the institutional, skills and labor market preconditions for integration, the causes of segmentation of labor markets according to national or ethnic origin and the role of networks for economic economic integration. Gender-specific inequalities
are also addressed.
One focus of the research is to examine the barriers to integrating of refugees into the labor market based on the IAB-BAMF-SOEP survey.
Economic effects of migration and integration
Migration not only affects labor markets in destination and origin countries, but also has consequences for investment in physical and human capital, productivity and growth, and the tax
and transfer systems of public budgets and social security systems.
This, in turn, affects macroeconomic output and the distribution of income and employment opportunities. The department studies selected aspects of these processes on the basis of macro and micro data.
Evidence-based advice to policy-makers, the public and civil society
The department pursues the goal of providing evidence-based information and advice to policymakers, the public and civil society with evidence-based information and advice.
In doing so, it pursues an interactive approach: the actors in politics, the public and civil society are not only the addressees of the advice and information are not only the addressees of advice and information, but are also involved in the generation of socially relevant research questions.
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