Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

School Grades and Neighbourhoods – A Natural Experiment

Pello-Esso, Wazah LU ; Gerdtham, Ulf LU orcid ; Larsson Lönn, Sara LU ; Sundquist, Jan LU and Sundquist, Kristina LU (2025) In Nordic Journal of Migration Research 15(4). p.1-23
Abstract
Adolescents with an immigrant background have poorer educational
performance than their native counterparts, which may partly be explained
by the quality of their neighbourhood area upon immigration to Sweden. An
important part of neighbourhood quality is neighbourhood socioeconomic
status (NSES). This study examines the impact of initial NSES on subsequent
school grades in refugees by using a natural experiment that took place
between 1985 and 1994 when refugees were randomly assigned to Swedish
neighbourhoods. We applied principal component analysis to assess
NSES based on neighbourhood socioeconomic characteristics. We found
robust evidence that higher initial NSES was associated with higher... (More)
Adolescents with an immigrant background have poorer educational
performance than their native counterparts, which may partly be explained
by the quality of their neighbourhood area upon immigration to Sweden. An
important part of neighbourhood quality is neighbourhood socioeconomic
status (NSES). This study examines the impact of initial NSES on subsequent
school grades in refugees by using a natural experiment that took place
between 1985 and 1994 when refugees were randomly assigned to Swedish
neighbourhoods. We applied principal component analysis to assess
NSES based on neighbourhood socioeconomic characteristics. We found
robust evidence that higher initial NSES was associated with higher school
grades in adolescents. In addition, estimated marginal effects showed
that low-performing students’ school grades improved even more when
the initial NSES increased. Our results suggest that refugee children benefit
academically from initial settlement in less-deprived neighbourhoods. (Less)
Abstract (Swedish)
dolescents with an immigrant background have poorer educational performance than their native counterparts, which may partly be explained by the quality of their neighbourhood area upon immigration to Sweden. An important part of neighbourhood quality is neighbourhood socioeconomic status (NSES). This study examines the impact of initial NSES on subsequent school grades in refugees by using a natural experiment that took place between 1985 and 1994 when refugees were randomly assigned to Swedish neighbourhoods. We applied principal component analysis to assess NSES based on neighbourhood socioeconomic characteristics. We found robust evidence that higher initial NSES was associated with higher school grades in adolescents. In addition,... (More)
dolescents with an immigrant background have poorer educational performance than their native counterparts, which may partly be explained by the quality of their neighbourhood area upon immigration to Sweden. An important part of neighbourhood quality is neighbourhood socioeconomic status (NSES). This study examines the impact of initial NSES on subsequent school grades in refugees by using a natural experiment that took place between 1985 and 1994 when refugees were randomly assigned to Swedish neighbourhoods. We applied principal component analysis to assess NSES based on neighbourhood socioeconomic characteristics. We found robust evidence that higher initial NSES was associated with higher school grades in adolescents. In addition, estimated marginal effects showed that low‑performing students’ school grades improved even more when the initial NSES increased. Our results suggest that refugee children benefit academically from initial settlement in less‑deprived neighbourhoods. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Education, Natural experiment, Neighborhood effect, Neighbourhoods socioeconomic status, School grades
in
Nordic Journal of Migration Research
volume
15
issue
4
article number
9
pages
1 - 23
publisher
De Gruyter
external identifiers
  • scopus:105022424807
ISSN
1799-649X
DOI
10.33134/njmr.878
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
bc784a9b-4176-44f8-8dad-c4c4313370d1
date added to LUP
2025-12-01 20:51:23
date last changed
2025-12-02 08:08:35
@article{bc784a9b-4176-44f8-8dad-c4c4313370d1,
  abstract     = {{Adolescents with an immigrant background have poorer educational<br/>performance than their native counterparts, which may partly be explained<br/>by the quality of their neighbourhood area upon immigration to Sweden. An<br/>important part of neighbourhood quality is neighbourhood socioeconomic<br/>status (NSES). This study examines the impact of initial NSES on subsequent<br/>school grades in refugees by using a natural experiment that took place<br/>between 1985 and 1994 when refugees were randomly assigned to Swedish<br/>neighbourhoods. We applied principal component analysis to assess<br/>NSES based on neighbourhood socioeconomic characteristics. We found<br/>robust evidence that higher initial NSES was associated with higher school<br/>grades in adolescents. In addition, estimated marginal effects showed<br/>that low-performing students’ school grades improved even more when<br/>the initial NSES increased. Our results suggest that refugee children benefit<br/>academically from initial settlement in less-deprived neighbourhoods.}},
  author       = {{Pello-Esso, Wazah and Gerdtham, Ulf and Larsson Lönn, Sara and Sundquist, Jan and Sundquist, Kristina}},
  issn         = {{1799-649X}},
  keywords     = {{Education; Natural experiment; Neighborhood effect; Neighbourhoods socioeconomic status; School grades}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{10}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{1--23}},
  publisher    = {{De Gruyter}},
  series       = {{Nordic Journal of Migration Research}},
  title        = {{School Grades and Neighbourhoods – A Natural Experiment}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.33134/njmr.878}},
  doi          = {{10.33134/njmr.878}},
  volume       = {{15}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}