Citizenship in Latvia: Does it Pay?

Abstract

Twenty years after the fall of the Soviet Union, a significant portion of the Russian-speaking population in Latvia remain non-citizens, meaning they lack the right to vote or work in specific industries. This thesis attempts to provide insight into this unique situation by assessing potential labor market incentives to obtain citizenship. Using the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development's Life in Transition II dataset, I use the propensity score method to analyze differences between Russian-speaking citizens' and non-citizens' monthly consumption and long-term unemployment and find no statistically significant differences between the different groups. Governmental policies may contribute to this lack of economic differentiation despite the superior rights and opportunities citizens enjoy.