Abstract

This report presents the main findings of a two-year research project on “Asylum Policies and the Refugee Crisis in Europe”, funded by a grant of the Nuffield Foundation.

Using multiple data sets from across Europe this project investigates three specific aspects of the interplay between asylum policies and refugees’ outcomes:

1.        The influence of border control policies on the composition, size and direction of migrant and refugee flows, and the impact on migration-related hazards during migrants’ journeys (Theme 1).

2.        The impact of different asylum and refugee policies on refugees’ socio-economic integration in the host countries (Theme 2).

3.        The feedback into policy-making through the effect of refugee flows on host country nationals’ voting behaviour (Theme 3).

The project assesses the effectiveness of asylum policies in reaching their stated objectives, but also examines other unintended, but potentially relevant, longer term consequences. The combined findings provide timely policy-relevant evidence on the role of asylum policies.