TY - JOUR

T1 - Can refugees improve native children's health?

T2 - evidence from Turkey

AU - Oymak, Cansu

AU - Maystadt, Jean-François

PY - 2024/3/18

Y1 - 2024/3/18

N2 - Following the most dramatic migration episode of the 21st century, Turkey hosted the largest number of Syrian refugees in the world. This paper assesses the impact of the arrival of Syrian refugees on the Turkish children's health, with a focus on height – a standard nutritional outcome. Accounting for the endogenous choice of immigrant location, our results show that Turkish children residing in provinces with a large share of refugees exhibit a significant improvement in their height as compared to those living in provinces with fewer refugees. Against other potential channels, a refugee-induced increase in maternal unemployment and the associated increase in maternal care seem to explain the observed positive effect on children's health.

AB - Following the most dramatic migration episode of the 21st century, Turkey hosted the largest number of Syrian refugees in the world. This paper assesses the impact of the arrival of Syrian refugees on the Turkish children's health, with a focus on height – a standard nutritional outcome. Accounting for the endogenous choice of immigrant location, our results show that Turkish children residing in provinces with a large share of refugees exhibit a significant improvement in their height as compared to those living in provinces with fewer refugees. Against other potential channels, a refugee-induced increase in maternal unemployment and the associated increase in maternal care seem to explain the observed positive effect on children's health.

KW - Economics and Econometrics

KW - Geography, Planning and Development

KW - Demography

U2 - 10.1017/dem.2024.1

DO - 10.1017/dem.2024.1

M3 - Journal article

JO - Journal of Demographic Economics

JF - Journal of Demographic Economics

SN - 2054-0892

ER -