Refugees and the education of host populations: Evidence from the Syrian inflow to Jordan

Ragui Assaad; Thomas Ginn; Mohamed Saleh

doi:10.1016/j.jdeveco.2023.103131

Refugees and the education of host populations: Evidence from the Syrian inflow to Jordan

Ragui Assaad, Thomas Ginn, Mohamed Saleh

Global Policy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

While labor market impacts of refugees in low- and middle-income countries are commonly studied, public services like education could also be affected by mass arrivals. This paper examines the impact of Syrian refugees on the educational outcomes of Jordanians. Combining detailed household surveys with school-level records on the density of Syrians, we study both the quantity and quality of education using a difference-in-differences design across refugee prevalence and schooling cohort. We find no evidence that Syrians significantly affected the educational outcomes of Jordanians. We show that the government's response of establishing second shifts in existing public schools and opening new schools in camps mitigated potential overcrowding.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	103131
Journal	Journal of Development Economics
Volume	164
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2023.103131
State	Published - Sep 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We are grateful to Ran Abramitzky, Shelby Carvalho, Gaurav Chiplunkar, Michael Clemens, Pascaline Dupas, Saumitra Jha, Ben Klemens, Melanie Morten, Semih Tumen, Jeremy Weinstein, participants at the American Economic Association's annual meetings, the Sustainability and Development Conference at the University of Michigan, the Midwest International Economic Development Conference, and the Economic Research Forum Policy Conference on Employment, Education and Housing in Jordan: The Impacts of the Syrian Refugee Influx. Funding from the British Academy through the Economic Research Forum is gratefully acknowledged. The views presented are those of the authors and not of CGD, ERF, the British Academy, or any other institution. This paper was previously circulated under the title “Impact of Syrian Refugees in Jordan on Education Outcomes for Jordanian Youth.” All errors are our own.

Funding Information:
We are grateful to Ran Abramitzky, Shelby Carvalho, Gaurav Chiplunkar, Michael Clemens, Pascaline Dupas, Saumitra Jha, Ben Klemens, Melanie Morten, Semih Tumen, Jeremy Weinstein, participants at the American Economic Association’s annual meetings, the Sustainability and Development Conference at the University of Michigan, the Midwest International Economic Development Conference, and the Economic Research Forum Policy Conference on Employment, Education and Housing in Jordan: The Impacts of the Syrian Refugee Influx. Funding from the British Academy through the Economic Research Forum is gratefully acknowledged. The views presented are those of the authors and not of CGD, ERF, the British Academy, or any other institution. This paper was previously circulated under the title “Impact of Syrian Refugees in Jordan on Education Outcomes for Jordanian Youth.” All errors are our own.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023

Keywords

Education
Forced migration
Middle east
Refugees

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.jdeveco.2023.103131

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title = "Refugees and the education of host populations: Evidence from the Syrian inflow to Jordan",

abstract = "While labor market impacts of refugees in low- and middle-income countries are commonly studied, public services like education could also be affected by mass arrivals. This paper examines the impact of Syrian refugees on the educational outcomes of Jordanians. Combining detailed household surveys with school-level records on the density of Syrians, we study both the quantity and quality of education using a difference-in-differences design across refugee prevalence and schooling cohort. We find no evidence that Syrians significantly affected the educational outcomes of Jordanians. We show that the government's response of establishing second shifts in existing public schools and opening new schools in camps mitigated potential overcrowding.",

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note = "Funding Information: We are grateful to Ran Abramitzky, Shelby Carvalho, Gaurav Chiplunkar, Michael Clemens, Pascaline Dupas, Saumitra Jha, Ben Klemens, Melanie Morten, Semih Tumen, Jeremy Weinstein, participants at the American Economic Association's annual meetings, the Sustainability and Development Conference at the University of Michigan, the Midwest International Economic Development Conference, and the Economic Research Forum Policy Conference on Employment, Education and Housing in Jordan: The Impacts of the Syrian Refugee Influx. Funding from the British Academy through the Economic Research Forum is gratefully acknowledged. The views presented are those of the authors and not of CGD, ERF, the British Academy, or any other institution. This paper was previously circulated under the title “Impact of Syrian Refugees in Jordan on Education Outcomes for Jordanian Youth.” All errors are our own. Funding Information: We are grateful to Ran Abramitzky, Shelby Carvalho, Gaurav Chiplunkar, Michael Clemens, Pascaline Dupas, Saumitra Jha, Ben Klemens, Melanie Morten, Semih Tumen, Jeremy Weinstein, participants at the American Economic Association{\textquoteright}s annual meetings, the Sustainability and Development Conference at the University of Michigan, the Midwest International Economic Development Conference, and the Economic Research Forum Policy Conference on Employment, Education and Housing in Jordan: The Impacts of the Syrian Refugee Influx. Funding from the British Academy through the Economic Research Forum is gratefully acknowledged. The views presented are those of the authors and not of CGD, ERF, the British Academy, or any other institution. This paper was previously circulated under the title “Impact of Syrian Refugees in Jordan on Education Outcomes for Jordanian Youth.” All errors are our own. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023",

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Refugees and the education of host populations: Evidence from the Syrian inflow to Jordan

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

Publisher link

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