Yes in My Back Yard? Refugee Allocation and the Preferential Treatment of Ukrainians in Switzerland

Abstract

Although proximity predicts attitudes toward refugee resettlement, we know little about acceptance when the issue is framed as mandatory integration into public services such as Switzerland’s compulsory school system. Because schools are important to social integration, understanding this dimension is crucial. I close this gap with a survey experiment in eight Swiss cantons (N = 4,756, December 2024), where every child is legally required to attend school. Respondents were randomly assigned to a treatment group that assessed placing refugee children in their own school district or to a control group that considered placement in a neighbouring district; nationality (Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan, Turkey, Eritrea) and other attributes were randomly varied. Contrary to expectations, willingness to accept and school-integrate refugees is 13.8 percent higher in respondents’ own district—a clear Yes-in-My-Back-Yard pattern. However, generosity is conditional: Ukrainian families enjoy a 4.7 percent premium when placed locally, an advantage that vanishes elsewhere. These results refine theories of NIMBYism, and reveal a nationality-specific hierarchy of deservingness that affects support for refugee integration.

Keywords: refugee resettlement, public opinion, NIMBY, Ukrainian refugee crisis, switzerland, survey experiment, migration policy