Migration patterns of refugee immigrants : Evidence from Swedish municipalities

Sammanfattning: This thesis examines if Swedish municipalities that receive a greater share of refugee immigrants relative to the municipality population, also experience an increased share of foreign born people over time. For smaller municipalities in Sweden, refugee recipient can be a way to grow in terms of population in a longer time perspective, given that refugees choose to stay in the municipality. The analysis is conducted at municipality level for Sweden’s 290 municipalities during the period of 2005 to 2016. The results from the analysis show that there is a positive relation between new refugee immigrants per capita that a municipality receives and the share of foreign borns per capita in a municipality. Further, the analysis shows that there is a positive and significant relation between the share of refugees per capita that a municipality receives and the share of foreign born people living in the municipality three to five years later.