Hybrid seminar: Co-ethnic neighbors and the educational achievements of refugees

This paper examines the effects of growing up among co-ethnic neighbors on the educational achievements of refugee children at different phases of their education career. We exploit a Dutch refugee dispersal policy between 1999 and 2009 that quasi-randomly assigned refugee-immigrants to their initial place of residence in the Netherlands. We find that being assigned to localities with more co-ethnic neighbors adversely impacts exit test scores at the end of primary school, as well as the probability of receiving a higher general- or pre-university secondary school track recommendation, the probability of being in these tracks in the third year of high school and receiving a diploma in these tracks at age 19. The negative impact of co-ethnic neighbors is driven by those residing in close proximity and those from the same country of origin. We find no evidence that the quality of the co-ethnic neighbors, measured by the adult co-ethnic employment rate affects education outcomes.