Tommaso Frattini (Università di Milano)

Refugees typically display weaker socio-economic status, lower well-being and a more fragile integration in host country than comparable immigrants. In contrast with this widespread disadvantage, we document that refugees hold the lead among foreign-born citizens in naturalization rates, largely because of the more favourable naturalization requirements that they typically face. We then analyze the labour market returns to naturalization of refugees and other migrants across European countries. We propose an instrumental variable strategy based on differences in eligibility rules across countries, cohorts, and immigrant status to deal with endogenous selection into naturalization. Our estimates point at large returns from citizenship for refugees: naturalized refugees completely fill the gap with comparable migrants in employment and participation. Positive returns on job quality are observed for other migrants. 

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