As a byproduct of the war in Iraq, half a million displaced Iraqis migrated to neighboring
Jordan. What impact did these refugees have on Jordan’s economy? A dominant narrative
shared by the international community generally assumes that refugees impose great
costs on hosting nations. Despite an abundance of anecdotal claims that the Iraqi refugees
were a massive burden on Jordan’s economy, there is a lack of empirical evidence to
support this assertion. Using a quasi-experimental research design that exploits the
variation in refugee presence across Jordan, I find that although the Iraqi refugees had a
small negative impact across a number of economic measures, the commonly held
criticisms are far overstated. Furthermore, I argue that some of the policies Jordan
implemented to mitigate the effect of the refugees were counterproductive, eliminating
some potentially positive impacts. The results of this study add to a growing body of
evidence that shows how local integration refugee policies can be of benefit to both the
refugees and the hosting nations.