Working Paper: NBER ID: w24733
Authors: Alberto Alesina; Armando Miano; Stefanie Stantcheva
Abstract: Does immigration change support for redistribution? We design and conduct large-scale surveys and experiments in six countries to investigate how people perceive immigrants and how these perceptions influence their support for redistribution. We find striking misperceptions about the number and characteristics of immigrants. In all countries, respondents greatly overestimate the total number of immigrants, think immigrants are culturally and religiously more distant from them, and economically weaker–less educated, more unemployed, and more reliant on and favored by government transfers–than they actually are. In the experimental part of our paper, we show that simply making respondents think about immigration before asking questions about redistribution makes them support less redistribution, including actual donations to charities. The perception that immigrants are economically weaker and more likely to take advantage of the welfare system is strongly correlated with lower support for redistribution, much more so than the perceived cultural distance or the perceived share of immigrants. These findings are confirmed by further experimental evidence. Information about the true shares and origins of immigrants does not change support for redistribution. An anecdote about a “hard working” immigrant has somewhat stronger effects, but is unable to counteract the negative priming effect of making people think about immigration. Our results further suggest that narratives shape people’s views on immigration more deeply than hard facts.
Keywords: Immigration; Redistribution; Public Perception
JEL Codes: D71; D72; H2
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| perceptions of immigration (K37) | support for redistribution (H23) |
| thinking about immigration (K37) | support for redistributive policies (H23) |
| perception that immigrants free-ride (K37) | support for redistribution (H23) |
| providing factual information about immigrants (K37) | support for redistribution (H23) |
| narratives about immigrants (K37) | opinions on redistribution (H23) |
| concern for inequality (D63) | preference for progressive taxation (H29) |
| thinking about immigration (K37) | concern for inequality (D63) |
| support for redistribution (H23) | donations to charity (D64) |