Migration and Social Change: Evidence from Post-WWII Displacement in Germany

• In Event: Long-Term Social and Political Consequences of World War I and II

Abstract

What are the social consequences of large-scale migration? We exploit quasi-exogenous variation in denominational diversity that resulted from the expulsion of 12 million people from Germany’s Eastern regions and other countries at the end of WWII. Many Protestant refugees were allocated to predominantly Catholic regions and Catholic refugees were allocated into predominantly Protestant regions, altering the denominational makeup of German communities that had been homogeneous for nearly five centuries. Using hand-collected mid-century census records from 10,000 municipalities and geo-coded survey data, we show that the influx of forced migrants and the resulting diversification of the German countryside increased social liberalism in the long run, in terms of tolerance towards immigrants, gender norms, and economic policies . Our analysis sheds new light on the social implications of cultural diversity and on the mechanisms connecting migration and social change.

Author

• Volha Charnysh, Massachusetts Institute of Technology