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Refugees and crime: Has the recent refugee immigration altered crimes in Sweden?

Rojas Mullor, Alexandra LU (2019) NEKP01 20191
Department of Economics
Abstract
Following the refugee crisis in 2015, Sweden experienced the largest inflow of refugees in the country’s history. What are the effects on crime of such extensive immigration? This paper aims at analyzing if it prevails a causal relationship between the last years’ refugee immigration and crime rates in Sweden. For this purpose, data from the state’s refugee placement program is evaluated, which yields variation in the number of refugees between the Swedish municipalities that is exogenous regarding the crime rates. The employed empirical strategy is a difference-in-differences model, and the resulting estimates indicate that: (i) it prevails a positive and significant relationship between the refugee immigration and the crime categories... (More)
Following the refugee crisis in 2015, Sweden experienced the largest inflow of refugees in the country’s history. What are the effects on crime of such extensive immigration? This paper aims at analyzing if it prevails a causal relationship between the last years’ refugee immigration and crime rates in Sweden. For this purpose, data from the state’s refugee placement program is evaluated, which yields variation in the number of refugees between the Swedish municipalities that is exogenous regarding the crime rates. The employed empirical strategy is a difference-in-differences model, and the resulting estimates indicate that: (i) it prevails a positive and significant relationship between the refugee immigration and the crime categories "crimes against persons" and "assaults"; and (ii) the effects of refugee immigration on "crimes against the public" and "thefts and robberies" are insignificant. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Rojas Mullor, Alexandra LU
supervisor
organization
course
NEKP01 20191
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
immigration, crime, refugee crisis, Sweden
language
English
id
8996428
date added to LUP
2020-01-09 11:13:01
date last changed
2020-01-09 11:13:01
@misc{8996428,
  abstract     = {{Following the refugee crisis in 2015, Sweden experienced the largest inflow of refugees in the country’s history. What are the effects on crime of such extensive immigration? This paper aims at analyzing if it prevails a causal relationship between the last years’ refugee immigration and crime rates in Sweden. For this purpose, data from the state’s refugee placement program is evaluated, which yields variation in the number of refugees between the Swedish municipalities that is exogenous regarding the crime rates. The employed empirical strategy is a difference-in-differences model, and the resulting estimates indicate that: (i) it prevails a positive and significant relationship between the refugee immigration and the crime categories "crimes against persons" and "assaults"; and (ii) the effects of refugee immigration on "crimes against the public" and "thefts and robberies" are insignificant.}},
  author       = {{Rojas Mullor, Alexandra}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Refugees and crime: Has the recent refugee immigration altered crimes in Sweden?}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}