Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics

Working Paper Series,
IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy

No 2021:16: Immigrant peers in the class: responses among natives and the effects on long-run revealed preferences

Helena Holmlund (), Erica Lindahl () and Sara Roman ()
Additional contact information
Helena Holmlund: IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy, Postal: Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy, P O Box 513, SE-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden
Erica Lindahl: IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy, Postal: Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy, P O Box 513, SE-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden
Sara Roman: IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy, Postal: Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy, P O Box 513, SE-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden

Abstract: We investigate whether exposure to immigrant peers at school affects natives’ future interactions with ethnic minorities. Identification is based on variation in immigrant exposure across cohorts within school catchment areas in Sweden. We document that natives respond to immigrants by changing school and develop an IV strategy that accounts for such endogenous responses. Our results show that minority exposure at the extensive margin increases the probability that natives form inter-ethnic romantic partnerships, which is suggestive of altered preferences for interacting with immigrants. We also find that minority exposure affects women’s educational choices and family formation decisions in a family-oriented direction.

Keywords: contact hypothesis; peer effects; intermarriage

JEL-codes: I20; J12; J15

Language: English

58 pages, November 15, 2021

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