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SUMMARY:PhD Viva: Borders and Pathways. Essays on Syrian Economic Developme
 nt and Migrant Integration.
DESCRIPTION:Contact: rami.zalfou@ekh.lu.se\n\nOn December 1\, 2025\, at 10.
 15 a.m\, at EC2:101\, Lund\, &nbsp\;CMES PhD student Rami Zalfou will defe
 nd the PhD thesis titled: Borders and Pathways. Essays on Syrian Economic 
 Development and Migrant Integration.The faculty opponent is Associate Prof
 essor Mohamed Saleh\, London School of Economics.AbstractOver the past cen
 tury\, Syria and the broader Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region ha
 ve undergone profound demographic and economic transformations\, yet they 
 remain marked by deep regional\, ethnic\, and gender-based inequalities. T
 hese divisions have shaped development trajectories and contributed to soc
 ial fragmentation\, while successive waves of migration carried these dyna
 mics abroad\, from Ottoman-era migration to the Americas to the mass displ
 acement of the Syrian civil war. Despite their importance\, the long-run r
 oots of Syrian inequality and the integration of Syrian and MENA migrants 
 remain underexplored in the empirical social sciences. This dissertation a
 ddresses these gaps by analysing the historical determinants of developmen
 t within Syria and the economic and social integration of Syrian and Middl
 e Eastern migrants in host societies.The dissertation consists of four pap
 ers that combine economic history\, demographic economics\, and migration 
 studies. Two focus on Syria\, examining the long-term impact of historical
  statelessness on regional inequality and the drivers of ethnic and religi
 ous gaps in female labour force participation. The other two analyse migra
 nt integration: the labour market outcomes of Ottoman migrants and their d
 escendants in the United States during the early twentieth century\, and t
 he home-leaving behaviour of MENA-origin youth in contemporary Sweden. By 
 linking historical and contemporary cases and applying methods ranging fro
 m spatial regression discontinuity and decomposition techniques to longitu
 dinal analysis of census and register data\, the dissertation provides nov
 el quantitative evidence from contexts often overlooked in existing schola
 rship.The findings from Syria show that historical legacies and structural
  inequalities have enduring effects on development and gender outcomes. Re
 gions historically beyond Ottoman state control remain disadvantaged in in
 come\, education\, and infrastructure\, with settlement patterns transmitt
 ing these gaps over time. Ethnic and religious disparities in women’s la
 bour force participation are similarly rooted in structural conditions suc
 h as economic development\, demographics\, and access to public sector emp
 loyment\, rather than cultural norms alone.In host societies\, integration
  unfolds differently across contexts and generations. Ottoman migrants ini
 tially faced earnings penalties despite occupational prestige\, but their 
 children achieved rapid upward mobility through education and occupational
  advancement. In contemporary Sweden\, however\, MENA-origin youth display
  persistent gaps in social integration: they leave the parental home later
  than natives\, with women especially likely to remain at home or exit thr
 ough marriage\, and neighbourhood context strongly shaping outcomes.Link t
 o publication.\n\nMore information about the event: https://www.cmes.lu.se
 /calendar/phd-viva-borders-and-pathways-essays-syrian-economic-development
 -and-migrant-integration
DTSTART;TZID=GMT:20251201T091500
DTEND;TZID=GMT:20251201T091500
LOCATION:EC2:101
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