Working Paper: NBER ID: w25562
Authors: Alberto Alesina; Elie Murard; Hillel Rapoport
Abstract: We examine the relationship between immigration and attitudes toward redistribution using a newly assembled data set of immigrant stocks for 140 regions of 16 Western European countries. Exploiting within-country variations in the share of immigrants at the regional level, we find that native respondents display lower support for redistribution when the share of immigrants in their residence region is higher. This negative association is driven by regions of countries with relatively large Welfare States and by respondents at the center or at the right of the political spectrum. The effects are also stronger when immigrants originate from Middle-Eastern countries, are less skilled than natives, and experience more residential segregation. These results are unlikely to be driven by immigrants' endogenous location choices.
Keywords: Immigration; Redistribution; Welfare State; Europe
JEL Codes: D6; O15; P16
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Share of immigrants in a region (J11) | Natives' support for redistribution (H23) |
| Higher share of immigrants from Middle Eastern countries (F22) | Natives' support for redistribution (H23) |
| Lower skill level of immigrants (J69) | Natives' support for redistribution (H23) |
| Higher levels of residential segregation (R23) | Natives' support for redistribution (H23) |
| Higher proportions of skilled immigrants (J69) | Mitigate negative effect on redistribution attitudes (H23) |