Immigration and Redistribution / Alberto Alesina, Armando Miano, Stefanie Stantcheva.

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Alesina, Alberto

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TextSeries: Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) ; no. w24733.Publication details: Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2018.Description: 1 online resource: illustrations (black and white)Subject(s):

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Abstract: We design and conduct large-scale surveys and experiments in six countries to investigate how natives perceive immigrants and how these perceptions influence their support for redistribution. We find strikingly large 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 are economically weaker - less educated, more unemployed, and more reliant on and favored by government transfers - than is the case. Respondents who support less redistribution are also more likely to think that immigrants are economically weaker and more likely to free-ride on and take advantage of the welfare system. The perceived cultural distance or the perceived share of immigrants are not as strongly predictive of support for redistribution. Simply making respondents think about immigration before asking questions about redistribution, in a randomized manner, makes them support less redistribution, including actual donations to charities. Information about the true shares and origins of immigrants is ineffective, and mainly acts as a prime that makes people think about immigrants and reduces their support for redistribution. An anecdote about a "hard working" immigrant is somewhat more effective. Our results suggest that salience and narratives shape people's views on immigration more deeply than hard facts.

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Item type	Home library	Collection	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode	Item holds
Working Paper	Biblioteca Digital	Colección NBER	nber w24733 (Browse shelf(Opens below))	Not For Loan

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June 2018.

We design and conduct large-scale surveys and experiments in six countries to investigate how natives perceive immigrants and how these perceptions influence their support for redistribution. We find strikingly large 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 are economically weaker - less educated, more unemployed, and more reliant on and favored by government transfers - than is the case. Respondents who support less redistribution are also more likely to think that immigrants are economically weaker and more likely to free-ride on and take advantage of the welfare system. The perceived cultural distance or the perceived share of immigrants are not as strongly predictive of support for redistribution. Simply making respondents think about immigration before asking questions about redistribution, in a randomized manner, makes them support less redistribution, including actual donations to charities. Information about the true shares and origins of immigrants is ineffective, and mainly acts as a prime that makes people think about immigrants and reduces their support for redistribution. An anecdote about a "hard working" immigrant is somewhat more effective. Our results suggest that salience and narratives shape people's views on immigration more deeply than hard facts.