Michael Vlassopoulos

The Power of Language: Educational and Mental Health Impacts of Language Training for Refugee Children* This paper examines the causal impact of a large-scale Turkish language training program on the academic performance, school participation, and mental well-being of Syrian refugee children in T¨urkiye. Using rich administrative data and a staggered difference-in-differences design, we find that the program led to improvements in Turkish language and Math scores of refugee students, along with a significant reduction in their school absences. The language gains and associated improvements in school outcomes are more pronounced for younger refugee children with lower pre-program academic performance, which suggests that early language interventions are more effective for integration. In addition, we provide evidence that the language training program generated modest positive spillovers on native students. Finally, we identify mental health as a potential key channel through which the program enhanced educational outcomes, as alleviating language barriers improved concentration, reduced anxiety, and decreased bullying. Our findings underline the critical role of language training in improving refugee students’ educational outcomes and mental well-being, and fostering social cohesion.

"The Power of Language: Educational and Mental Health Impacts of Language Training for Refugee Children" by @semihtumen.bsky.social @mvlass.bsky.social and @jackiewahba.bsky.social #EconSky #MenaSky

docs.iza.org/dp17593.pdf

Billionaires bankroll US politics, but voters could demand a fairer system Some are calling for wealth caps and reduced political influence.

Billionaire Influence in the 2024 U.S. Election: Will It Backfire?
theconversation.com/billionaires...

NEW #IFSWorkingPaper: Spillovers in criminal networks: Evidence from co-offender deaths

Read Matthew Lindquist, Eleonora Patacchini, @mvlass.bsky.social and @yveszenou.bsky.social study on spillover effects within criminal networks by leveraging the deaths of co-offenders: https://buff.ly/4gl45t2

How a documentary film fostered interethnic harmony in Bangladesh A documentary film, shown to a majority group, portraying the daily lives, cultural practices, and socioeconomic struggles of a minority group in Bangladesh, increased prosociality and reduced complai...

🆕How a documentary film fostered interethnic harmony in Bangladesh

Today on VoxDev @absidd.bsky.social (Royal Holloway), @mvlass.bsky.social (University of Southhampton) & Yves Zenou (Monash University) outline their latest research: voxdev.org/topic/how-do...

Beautiful view indeed!

Exciting opportunity! The Department of Economics at the University of Southampton is looking for a talented individual to join us as a Lecturer. We are particularly interested in candidates with interests in Applied Economics. Details here: jobs.soton.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...

New paper alert: Network formation model of parents (with A.Houndetoungan, A.Islam, and Y.Zenou). Key determinant is the child's gender. Counterfactual: If all children share the same gender, households would have approximately 15% more links. Link here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Integrating refugee children through teacher training: voxdev.org/topic/health...

CEPR-TCD-TIME conference in DevEcon is happening 13-14 Oct in Dublin. @mvlass.bsky.social is presenting our fresh new paper on 'Edutainment and Interethnic Relationships' tomorrow after lunch. If you're around, don't miss it! Draft and a 🧵 will be out soon!

Congratulations Steffen!

Hello! Excited to give this a try!