Economic incentives and the return of rejected asylum-seekers

• The return and reintegration of rejected asylum seekers is a growing concern, not least following the migration flows in the summer of 2015. In general, only a third of individuals with negative asylum decisions are estimated to have returned to their origin countries in recent years. We provide the first causal evaluation of a specific policy aimed at incentivizing the return of rejected asylum-seekers, namely a cash grant given to those who return to their home countries on their own. We use individual level administrative data from Sweden and implement a regression discontinuity design, which leverages that the eligible nationalities have changed over time. Our estimate suggests that being informed about the cash grant increased the take-up rate and subsequently the share who returned on their own, within 2 to 5 years. However, the overall take-up rate is low. We find no evidence of adverse selection, as there is no increase in applications after the introduction of cash the grants.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Statsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Political Science (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Nationalekonomi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Economics (hsv//eng)

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