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Refugees, not Economic Migrants ‐ Why do Asylum‐Seekers Register in Hungary?
Author(s) -
Tétényi András,
Barczikay Tamás,
SzentIványi Balázs
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
international migration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.681
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1468-2435
pISSN - 0020-7985
DOI - 10.1111/imig.12528
Subject(s) - refugee , immigration , european union , government (linguistics) , asylum seeker , political science , demographic economics , irregular migration , comprehensive plan of action , development economics , economics , sociology , law , international trade , ethnology , linguistics , philosophy
The article analyses why asylum‐seekers choose Hungary as an entry point to the European Union. Among the Central and Eastern European countries Hungary has been by far the most popular choice for asylum‐seekers between 2002 and 2016, yet surprisingly, it has been neglected by the literature. Using a panel dataset and fixed effects regressions, the article finds that beyond being ‘conveniently’ located on the Balkans migration route, variables related to Hungary's immigration policy are the most significant determinants of asylum‐seeker choices. The article finds no evidence to support recent claims by the Hungarian government that arrivals to the country are actually economic migrants and not asylum‐seekers; quite the contrary, the results indicate that on average asylum‐seekers entering Hungary are fleeing violent conflict in their countries of origin.