Webinaire Junior sur l'économie des migrations. See the Migrants, Cross the Street? Endogenous Selection Out of Exposure to Migrants
Artur Obminski
Paris School of Economics
Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne
Résumé
This paper provides evidence of natives’ endogenous segregation away from potential migrant exposure in response to migrants arrival to local neighborhoods. Using unique, large-scale, and precisely geolocated data for Poland when over a million Ukrainian refugees arrived in two months, March and April 2022, I find that native Poles shift away from consumption establishments with increased migrant exposure in their immediate surroundings, changing consumption neighborhoods. This effect is especially pronounced for the establishments, including cafés and bars, which are most conducive to social mixing. As such, the findings point to a need to consider how individual choices affect the likelihood of realizing potential benefits of intergroup contact, through determining whether contact is likely to take place.
