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Immigration and the Future of the Welfare State in Europe

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  • Alberto Alesina
  • Johann Harnoss
  • Hillel Rapoport

Abstract

We analyze the effect of immigration on attitudes toward income redistribution in twenty-eight European countries over the period 2002 to 2012, before the “refugee crisis.†We find that native workers lower their support for redistribution if the share of immigration in their country is high. This effect is larger for individuals who hold negative views regarding immigration but is smaller when immigrants are culturally closer to natives and come from richer-origin countries. The effect also varies with native workers’ and immigrants’ education: more educated natives support more redistribution if immigrants are also relatively educated. Overall, our results show that the negative effect of immigration on attitudes toward redistribution is relatively small and is counterbalanced among skilled natives by positive second-order effects for the quality and diversity of immigration.

Suggested Citation

  • Alberto Alesina & Johann Harnoss & Hillel Rapoport, 2021. "Immigration and the Future of the Welfare State in Europe," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 697(1), pages 120-147, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:697:y:2021:i:1:p:120-147
    DOI: 10.1177/00027162211055409
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    1. Immigration and the Future of the Welfare State in Europe
      by maximorossi in NEP-LTV blog on 2018-05-17 20:23:56

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    1. Arnaud Chevalier & Benjamin Elsner & Andreas Lichter & Nico Pestel, 2018. "Immigrant Voters, Taxation and the Size of the Welfare State," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 994, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    2. Rezwanul Hasan Rana & Khorshed Alam & Jeff Gow, 2020. "The Impact of Immigration on Public and Out-of-Pocket Health Expenditure in OECD Countries," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 485-508, June.
    3. Ajzenman, Nicolas & Dominguez-Rivera, Patricio & Undurraga, Raimundo, 2021. "Immigration, Crime, and Crime (Mis)Perceptions," IZA Discussion Papers 14087, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Patricio Dom'inguez & Nicol'as Grau & Dami'an Vergara, 2022. "Discrimination Against Immigrants in the Criminal Justice System: Evidence from Pretrial Detentions," Papers 2202.10685, arXiv.org.
    5. Schütt, Christoph A. & Pipke, David & Detlefsen, Lena & Grimalda, Gianluca, 2023. "Does ethnic heterogeneity decrease workers’ effort in the presence of income redistribution? An experimental analysis," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    6. Moriconi, Simone & Peri, Giovanni & Turati, Riccardo, 2019. "Immigration and voting for redistribution: Evidence from European elections," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).

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