Do asylum‐seekers respond to policy changes? Evidence from the Swedish–Syrian case*
利用高频数据，研究瑞典对叙利亚寻求庇护者政策突然自由化（从临时居留改为永久居留）后，叙利亚庇护申请数量及家庭团聚申请比例的变化，发现政策导致申请量短期激增且家庭结构发生持久转变。
Abstract Do asylum‐seekers respond to policy changes in their destination country, and to what extent? We approach this question by using high‐frequency data, and we focus on a sudden liberalization in Swedish policy toward Syrian asylum‐seekers, which implied permanent instead of temporary residence. We show a clear and fast, yet temporary, increase in Syrian asylum applications in Sweden after the policy change. Also, the policy caused a shift – not limited to the short term – in the share of individuals arriving without family, and consequently in the share applying for family reunification. Our study adds quasi‐experimental evidence to the literature on inter‐country asylum flows and migration policy.