To move or not to move? Immigration and natives’ neighborhood choices in Seoul, Korea

Abstract

Abstract We investigate the impact of an increase in immigrant inflows on natives’ residential choices in a large metropolitan city. We utilize an administrative dataset containing information about residential address changes and self-reported reasons for relocation. Exploiting the expansion of a special visa program as an exogenous shock, we find that immigration inflows are both a push and a pull factor for natives. While neighborhoods in Seoul lost more than 6 natives for every 10 additional immigrants between 2006 and 2015, certain native workers were drawn to areas with immigrant inflows for job-related reasons.