A New "Exodus"? the Political Economy of Jewish Migration

Are European Jews resilient in the face of rising anti-Semitism and an increasing number of violent terrorist attacks across the EU directed at them? Or is there a new Exodus happening? Current answers to these questions in the popular press and elsewhere are based on anecdotes or small samples of data of poor quality. Leveraging the information contained in a unique dataset based on a large number and variety of European and Israeli sources, this paper shows that the recent rise in anti-Semitic-based terrorist attacks is not any different when compared to other flashpoints of extremist right-wing violence between 1978 and the present in Western Europe. Secondly, there is no mass exodus of Jews currently occurring.

Thirdly, the paper draws on existing scholarship on the economics of immigration to show that when Jews are leaving European countries for Israel when there is perceived to be greater economic opportunity there, not because of rising anti-Semitic violence. Controlling for other factors, such as distance, European Jews leave for Israel where wages are highly compressed and comparatively low for high-skilled, young workers in the home country. Specifically, the degree of wage dispersion for skilled workers in the home country best explains why Jews emigrate from France, for example. The paper makes a significant contribution to understanding the current situation for European Jews, the impact of rightwing, extremist violence, and the broader literature on the political economy of immigration.