Immigrants and Citizenship
Research Question: What is the impact of naturalization on immigrants, their families and communities?
Methods and Data: An encouragement design partnering with immigrant organizations in San Francisco, New York, Chicago and Switzerland that provide citizenship workshops. Randomization of encouragement provides the leverage to evaluate the independent effect of naturalization on a wide range of outcomes. Data will be collected through panel surveys of participants and non-participants.
Newly Arrived Immigrants and Integration Contracts
Research Questions: Do immigrants integrate better with than without integration contracts? And what forms of contracts/assistance are most effective, and for whom among the diverse immigrant population?
Methods and Data: Use a regression discontinuity design coupled with a difference in differences approach to evaluate the impact of integration contracts across sub-national units in both France and Switzerland. Data will come from French and Swiss government entities as well as comprehensive surveys of immigrants.
Refugees and Asylum
Research Questions: Who is granted asylum? What impact do wait times have on integration, and are particular groups of immigrants affected differently? Lastly, does context—where asylum applicants are temporarily housed—impact integration?
Methods and Data: Construct a unique data set of asylum applications and decisions from France’s Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless People (OFPRA) dating back to 1979. Use appropriate statistical techniques (e.g., HLM, hazard modeling, etc.) to evaluate each of the specific research questions. Replicate project in Switzerland to conduct comparative analysis.
Barriers to Integration
Economic Barriers
Research Questions: Are employers discriminating against immigrants and if so, how severe is the discrimination, and what form of discrimination exists (statistical or animus-based)?
Methods and Data: Correspondence test of employers in experimental framework testing employer discrimination toward naturalized citizens and non-naturalized immigrants. Data will be collected through emailed employment applications in five countries Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Political Barriers
Research Question: What accounts for the widespread and persistent political underrepresentation of immigrant-origin minorities?
Methods and Data: Survey using purposive sampling of Swedish immigrants who are also likely to be candidates for office. Likelihood is determined via annual observations of over 6 million individuals during 6 election cycles in Sweden.
