The value of citizenship : experimental and quasi-experimental evidence from Germany and Switzerland

Immigration is a long-simmering issue in every western democracy, and one of the most controversial aspects of immigration policy is the naturalization of immigrants. Citizenship is often tied to important rights, and right-wing political parties have extensively mobilized throughout Europe and the USA for restricting the influx of immigrants and more restrictive naturalization laws in recent years. These policy debates are likely to grow fiercer in the future. In their innovative research, Hangartner and Hainmueller (2013, forthcoming) extensively study the driving forces behind anti-immigrant sentiments in Switzerland by examining how naturalization rates vary at the local level. Building on their work my dissertation project examines another important aspect that has received almost no scholarly attention so far: the effect of naturalization on the lives of immigrants. What happens when immigrants are naturalized? Do immigrants become more politically active and engaged in their communities? Are they socially better integrated? Does citizenship lead to better labor market outcomes, and if so, through which channels does citizenship operate? Answering these questions is crucial to inform ongoing policy debates, but existing research has not provided any reliable micro-level evidence so far. The key problem in studying the causal effect of citizenship is selection bias. Immigrants selectively apply for citizenship for reasons that are not observed by the researcher. Hence, non-naturalized immigrants and naturalized immigrants differ on a wide range of background characteristics that can potentially explain any differences in their social, political, and economic outcomes. This dissertation, for the first time, isolates the causal effect of citizenship per se by adopting (quasi-)experimental identification strategies, which allows me to obtain unbiased estimates of the effect of citizenship that are as credible as those obtained from a randomized experiment

Catalyst or crown: does naturalization promote the long-term social integration of immigrants?

We study the impact of naturalization on the long-term social integration of immigrants into the host country society. Despite ongoing debates about citizenship policy, we lack reliable evidence that isolates the causal effect of naturalization from the non-random selection into naturalization. We exploit the quasi-random assignment of citizenship in Swiss municipalities that used referendums to decide on naturalization applications of immigrants. Comparing otherwise similar immigrants who narrowly won or narrowly lost their naturalization referendums, we find that receiving Swiss citizenship strongly improved long-term social integration. We also find that the integration returns to naturalization are much larger for more marginalized immigrant groups and somewhat larger when naturalization occurs earlier, rather than later in the residency period. Overall, our findings support the policy paradigm arguing that naturalization is a catalyst for improving the social integration of immigrants rather than merely the crown on the completed integration process

Complete molecular response induced by nilotinib in a patient previously treated with imatinib, nilotinib and dasatinib

We reported a case report of a female patient with chronic myeloid leukemia who was treated with nilotinib after failure to imatinib, nilotinib, dasatinib. The patient was diagnosed in 2001 and treated with imatinib, but complete cytogenetic response (CCyR) and complete hematologic response (CHR) were lost four years later. Doubling imatinib dose to 800 mg/die gave no positive results. The patient was enrolled in clinical trial with nilotinib, but mutational analysis performed after two months showed Y253H point mutation (no nilotinib sensitive). In April 2007 dasatinib was started and CCyR and major molecular response (MMolR) was reached. In May 2011 Bcr-Abl transcript progressively increased and mutational analysis showed a M244V point mutation. Therapy with nilotinib 800 mg/die was started, and after six months the patient obtained a complete molecular response (CMR), surprising with disappearance of both point mutations

Catalyst or Crown: Does Naturalization Promote the Long-Term Social Integration of Immigrants?

We study the impact of naturalization on the long-term social integration of immigrants into the host country society. Despite ongoing debates about citizenship policy, we lack reliable evidence that isolates the causal eect of naturalization from the non-random selection into naturalization. We exploit the quasi-random assignment of citizenship in Swiss municipalities that used referendums to decide on naturalization applications of immigrants. Comparing otherwise similar immigrants who narrowly won or narrowly lost their naturalization referendums, we nd that receiving Swiss citizenship strongly improved long-term social integration. We also nd that the integration returns to naturalization are much larger for more marginalized immigrant groups and somewhat larger when naturalization occurs earlier, rather than later in the residency period. Overall, our ndings support the policy paradigm arguing that naturalization is a catalyst for improving the social integration of immigrants rather than merely the crown on the completed integration process

What polarizes citizens? An explorative analysis of 817 attitudinal items from a non-random online panel in Germany

Various studies point to the lack of evidence of distributive opinion polarization in Europe. As most studies analyse the same item batteries from international social surveys, this lack of polarization might be due to an item’s issue (e.g., the nature or substance of an item) or item formulation characteristics used to measure polarization. Based on a unique sample of 817 political attitudinal items asked in 2022 by respondents of a non-random online panel in Germany, we empirically assess the item characteristics most likely to lead to distributive opinion polarization–measured with the Van der Eijk agreement index. Our results show that only 20% of the items in our sample have some–at most moderate–level of opinion polarization. Moreover, an item’s salience in the news media before the survey data collection, whether an item measures attitudes toward individual financial and non-financial costs, and the implicit level of knowledge required to answer an item (level of technicality) are significantly associated with higher opinion polarization. By contrast, items measuring a cultural issue (such as issues on gender, LGTBQI+, and ethnic minorities) and items with a high level of abstraction are significantly associated with a lower level of polarization. Our study highlights the importance of reflecting on the potential influence of an item’s issue and item formulation characteristics on the empirical assessment of distributive opinion polarization

Naturalization fosters the long-term political integration of immigrants

The political integration of immigrant minorities is one of the most pressing policy issues many countries face today. Despite heated debates, there exists little rigorous evidence about whether naturalization fosters or dampens the integration of immigrants into the political fabric of the host society. Our study provides new causal evidence on the long-term effects of naturalization on political integration. Our research design takes advantage of a natural experiment in Switzerland that allows us to separate the independent effect of naturalization from the nonrandom selection into naturalization. We find that in our sample, naturalization caused long-lasting improvements in political integration, with immigrants becoming likely to vote and attaining considerably higher levels of political efficacy and political knowledge

Zweite Welle der IAB-BAMF-SOEP-Befragung: Geflüchtete machen Fortschritte bei Sprache und Beschäftigung

In der BAMF-Kurzanalyse 1|2019 werden erste Erkenntnisse aus der zweiten Erhebung der IAB-BAMF-SOEP-Befragung von Geflüchteten aus dem Jahr 2017 vorgestellt. Dabei geht es um Schutzsuchende, die zwischen 1. Januar 2013 und 31. Dezember 2016 zugezogen sind, und deren Haushaltsmitglieder. Die Gesamtstichprobe umfasst 7.430 erwachsene Personen, die mindestens einmal befragt wurden. In allen untersuchten Bereichen zeichnet sich eine Verbesserung der Integration und Teilhabe von Geflüchteten im Vergleich zum Vorjahr ab.BAMF Brief Analysis 1|2019 presents first findings based on the second wave of the IAB-BAMF-SOEP survey of refugees in 2017. The survey is a longitudinal study of refugees and their household members, who came to Germany between January, 1 2013, and December, 31 2016. The total sample included 7,430 adults who were surveyed at least once. In comparison to the previous year, an improvement in the integration and inclusion of refugees is evident in all the examined areas