TY - JOUR

T1 - The Effects of Exposure to Refugees on Crime: Evidence from the Greek Islands

AU - Rigissa Megalokonomou

AU - Vasilakis, Chrysovalantis

PY - 2023/10/10

Y1 - 2023/10/10

N2 - Recent political instability in the Middle East has triggered one of the largest influxes ofrefugees into Europe. The different departure points along the Turkish coast generate exogenousvariation in refugee arrivals across Greek islands. We construct a new dataset on the numberand nature of crime incidents and arrested offenders at island level using official police recordsand newspaper reports. Instrumental variables and difference-in-differences are employed tostudy the causal relationship between immigration and crime. We find that a 1-percentage-pointincrease in the share of refugees on destination islands increases crime incidents by 1.7-2.5 percentagepoints compared with neighboring unexposed islands. This is driven by crime incidentscommitted by refugees; there is no change in crimes committed by natives on those islands. Wefind a significant rise in property crime, knife attacks, and rape, but no increase in drug crimes.Results based on reported crimes exhibit a similar pattern. Our findings highlight the need forgovernment provision in terms of infrastructure, social benefits, quicker evaluation for asylum,and social security.

AB - Recent political instability in the Middle East has triggered one of the largest influxes ofrefugees into Europe. The different departure points along the Turkish coast generate exogenousvariation in refugee arrivals across Greek islands. We construct a new dataset on the numberand nature of crime incidents and arrested offenders at island level using official police recordsand newspaper reports. Instrumental variables and difference-in-differences are employed tostudy the causal relationship between immigration and crime. We find that a 1-percentage-pointincrease in the share of refugees on destination islands increases crime incidents by 1.7-2.5 percentagepoints compared with neighboring unexposed islands. This is driven by crime incidentscommitted by refugees; there is no change in crimes committed by natives on those islands. Wefind a significant rise in property crime, knife attacks, and rape, but no increase in drug crimes.Results based on reported crimes exhibit a similar pattern. Our findings highlight the need forgovernment provision in terms of infrastructure, social benefits, quicker evaluation for asylum,and social security.

M3 - Article

JO - European Economic Review

JF - European Economic Review

SN - 0014-2921

ER -