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dc.titleAccess to Language Training and the Local Integration of Refugees
dc.contributor.authorFoged, Mette
dc.contributor.authorvan der Werf, Cynthia
dc.contributor.orgunitMigration Unit
dc.coverageDenmark
dc.date.available2023-05-02T00:05:00
dc.date.issue2023-05-02T00:05:00
dc.description.abstractThis paper examines whether language classes raises refugees' language proficiency and improves their socio-economic integration. Our identification strategy leverages the opening, closing, and gradual expansion of local language training centers in Denmark, as well as the quasi-random assignment of the refugees to locations with varying proximity to a language training center. First, we show that refugees' distance from the assigned language training center is as good as random conditional on initial placement. Second, we show that a one-hour decrease in commuting time increases total hours of class attended by 46 to 71. Third, we use this novel identification strategy to show that 100 additional hours of language class increases fluency in the Danish language by 8-9 percent, post-language training human capital acquisition by 11-13 percent and improve the integration of the refugees in the communities where they were initially placed, as measured by the lower exit rates from those same communities and an almost 70 percent reduction in mobility to the largest, most immigrant-dense cities in Denmark.
dc.format.extent47
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.18235/0004897
dc.identifier.urlhttps://publications.iadb.org/publications/english/document/Access-to-Language-Training-and-the-Local-Integration-of-Refugees.pdf
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherInter-American Development Bank
dc.subjectInvestment
dc.subjectRefugee
dc.subjectMunicipal Government
dc.subjectLabor
dc.subjectSkills
dc.subjectMigrant
dc.subjectEducation
dc.subjectEconomy
dc.subjectLabor Market
dc.subjectEducational Institution
dc.subjectBilingual Education
dc.subject.jelcodeJ60 - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers: General
dc.subject.jelcodeJ24 - Human Capital • Skills • Occupational Choice • Labor Productivity
dc.subject.keywordsRefugee Integration;Language Skills
dc.typeWorking Papers
idb.identifier.pubnumberIDB-WP-01460
idb.operationRG-E1830
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