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  5. Communication Barriers and Infant Health: The Intergenerational Effect of Randomly Allocating Refugees across Language Regions

American Economic Journal:
Economic Policy

ISSN 1945-7731 (Print) | ISSN 1945-774X (Online)

Communication Barriers and Infant Health: The Intergenerational Effect of Randomly Allocating Refugees across Language Regions

  • Daniel Auer
  • Johannes S. Kunz
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy (Forthcoming)

Abstract

This paper investigates the intergenerational effect of communication barriers on child health at birth. We study refugees in Switzerland who come from French- or Italian-speaking countries and who, upon arrival, are randomly allocated to different cantons, in which either German, French, or Italian is the dominant language. Children born to mothers who were exogenously allocated to a region whose dominant language matched their origin language are, on average, 72 grams (or 2.2%) heavier. Further analyses suggest that this effect is likely driven by information about health-related behavior and services. Co-ethnic networks, however, can partly compensate for communication barriers.

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