Do Integration Courses Promote Refugees’ Social and Political Integration? Evidence from Norway

Many European countries have implemented mandatory integration courses for refugees and asylum seekers. While evaluations suggest that these programs can improve short-term economic outcomes, less is known about their effectiveness in promoting social and political integration. We focus on the Norwegian Introductory Program, an intensive intervention which requires two years of full-time coursework. To identify the causal effect of the program, we leverage quasi-random variation in refugees’ arrival dates during a staggered roll-out period. Although we find positive effects on economic integration, we find that the program did not meaningfully influence political or social integration over the long run, as measured via administrative data on citizenship, validated electoral turnout, residential patterns, union membership, and intermarriage rates. We find similar null effects when examining political and social attitudes. Our findings suggest that while introductory programs may improve refugees’ economic situation, mandatory coursework is nevertheless ineffective at promoting integration across other domains.