Scholars at Risk: Academic Networks and High-Skilled Emigration from Nazi Germany

• Department of Economics

In this seminar, Sascha O. Becker (Monash University and University of Munich) will present the paper "Scholars at Risk: Academic Networks and High-Skilled Emigration from Nazi Germany."

We study the role of professional networks in facilitating emigration of Jewish academics dismissed from their jobs by the Nazi government. We use individual-level exogenous variation in the timing of dismissals to estimate the causal effect of networks. Academics with more ties to early émigrés (emigrated 1933-1934) were more likely to emigrate. Early émigrés functioned as bridging nodes that facilitated emigration to their own destination. We also distinguish between three kinds of social networks – family, community or professional networks and study their relative importance. Lastly, we provide some of the first empirical evidence of decay in social ties over time.

Co-authors: Sharun Mukand (University of Warwick), Volker Lindenthal and Fabian Waldinger (University of Munich)

Due to limited spaces for COVID restrictions, participation on site will be allowed -upon registration- on a first-come, first-served basis. The event will also be live-streamed via zoom. Participants will receive the zoom link once registered.