Matthias Huber (p), Silke Uebelmesser

Kerstin Tanis

This paper analyses the effect of the presence of German language learning opportunities abroad on migration to Germany. We use a unique dataset that provides information on the presence of the Goethe-Institut (GI), an association that promotes German culture and offers language courses and standardized exams, in 81 countries for the period 1965 to 2013. In this multiple origin and single destination framework, we estimate fixed-effects models where we control for multilateral resistance to migration by using the CCE-estimator (Pesaran 2006). We find evidence that the number of language institutes provided by the GI in a country is positively correlated with migration from that country to Germany. We find that the correlation between migration and the number of language institutes is lower for high income countries while differences in linguistic or geographical distance are of no relevance. To establish causality, we show that the probability of opening new institutes is not related to previous migration to Germany in a positive way and we use an instrumental variable approach.

Kerstin Tanis (p)

Matthias Huber

This paper investigates initial and subsequent location choices of European labor immigrants in Germany. Previously, it was found that immigrants settle solely in metropolitan areas whereas peripheral areas, those suffering mostly from demographic changes, are chosen very scarcely. Thus, immigration seems to accelerate spatial inequality and other regional discrepancies. While previous studies measured individual and regional effects on immigrants' location choices separately, this study brings both effects together. Thus, this study produces a more precise understanding of location choice drivers. The use of individual immigrant data from the IAB-Integrated Employment Biographies as well as regional data from the Regional Database Germany allows us to measure possible interactions effects at a low regional level (counties). In the empirical section we provide evidence of the determinants for initial and following location choices based on discrete choice models, focusing on the top European sending countries.