Ioannis Laliotis (University of Patras)
Effrosyni Adamopoulou and Nicholas Giannakopoulos
This paper investigates how exclusionary refugee policies shape local labour-market adjustment. Exploiting the localised establishment of refugee camps as a quasi-natural experiment, we use matched employer–employee administrative data and a difference-in-differences event-study design to compare treated and unaffected localities before and after camp placement. Both days worked and labour earnings declined, driven by losses in the accommodation sector. Other sectors showed no sustained gains, as catering was supplied by mainland firms and refugees were confined to camps and barred from working. The findings reveal how restrictive hosting policies condition the local economic effects of refugee inflows.