unemployment and attitudes have long-lasting effects on the employment probability of refugees. The negative effects of initial unemployment are cumulative over time and reach a maximum after more than 15 years, whereas the impact of attitudes is small shortly after arrival, reaches a maximum 3–5 years after arrival, and then decreases over time. Our findings on the role of attitudes differ from Aksoy et al. (2020) and seem to indicate that when natives’ attitudes become more restrictive over time, refugees could feel pressured to increase their integration efforts and search more intensively for a job.

Based on our findings that highlight the importance of an early entry into the workforce in order to ensure an effective economic integration of refugees, we acknowledge the significant challenges that persist and discuss some policy recommendations emerging from our study and some broader policy implications. First, shortening the asylum process is important. In this regard, Switzerland, recently carried out a reform of the asylum process, and starting from March 1, 2019 adopted a reduced asylum procedure, which was approved through a referendum in 2016. Under this policy framework, each stage of the process has a well-defined timeline, and the overall examination of the asylum applications is completed at a faster pace, in most cases within 140 days. Moreover, applicants have the right to receive free legal assistance. In addition to this, temporarily admitted refugees and recognized refugees can work in the canton of residency upon a simple declaration. The rationale behind these changes is to improve the overall efficiency of the system, which includes avoiding a waiting time for asylumseekers of several years, and allowing those entitled to receive protection as soon as possible. The current data availability of the administrative records (i.e., only until 2018) has not yet allowed us to rigorously assess the effectiveness of this reform, which we leave for future research. Second, given the significant variation over time in the way the initial local conditions and other factors affect the pattern of economic integration, we highlight the importance of taking a longer run perspective – and possibly the longitudinal dimension – when examining the effectiveness of policies, given that the effects may vary over time and different complementary interventions may be needed in the short vs. longrun. Moreover, recent developments in artificial intelligence have shown the potential for technology to optimize the resettlement process and potentially improve the within country allocation of refugees based on the characteristics of the labor market and the variation in employment prospects across locations (e.g., Bansak et al. (2018) who develop an algorithm—a combination of supervised machinelearning and optimal matching – to utilize the synergies between asylum seekers and geographical locations). At the same time, these recent technological developments have highlighted the existence of a complex set of ethical, as well as privacy and security issues that would have to be addressed for their use. Third, promoting investment in human capital, for example in terms of language courses, education programs, and vocational training is important. This could have the benefit of fostering integration, avoiding skill depreciation and social marginalization, as well as facilitating the transition into the labor market. Recent research has also shown that the benefits from investing in refugees and their children’s education may persist across generations and over time (Becker et al. 2020). Last, encouraging a greater coordination of the asylum policy at the international level remains a pressing issue. That is, considering the adoption at the European level, of a system for the geographic allocation of refugees, sharing responsibility over financial compensation for hosting refugees, and considering the adoption of shared and coordinated asylum procedures (Piguet 2019).

# **References**

Aiyar, Shekhar, Bergljot Barkbu, Nicoletta Batini, Helge Berger, Enrica Detragiache, Allan Dizioli, Christian Ebeke, et al. 2016. _The Refugee Surge in Europe: Economic Challenges._ Staff Discussion Notes 2. IMF. https://doi.org/10.5089/9781513552590.006.

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