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Does Labor Protection Increase Support for Immigration? Evidence from Switzerland

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  • Mirjam Bächli
  • Teodora Tsankova

Abstract

What affects native support for immigration? At a time of rising anti-immigration sentiments, this is a question raised by both academics and policy makers. We study the role of labor protection in shaping native preferences over migration policies. We look at Swiss national votes which took place from 2000 to 2014. Our results show that a higher immigrant exposure reduces pro-immigration vote shares in municipalities with a relatively low-skilled native population. The negative response is mitigated under higher levels of labor protection as measured by collective bargaining coverage. We look at labor market outcomes to understand mechanisms at play and find some suggestive evidence that collective agreements mitigate negative wage responses among low-skilled natives. Overall, the analysis suggests that labor protection affects vote outcomes by improving in addition other labor market conditions or by alleviating existing fears among the native population.

Suggested Citation

  • Mirjam Bächli & Teodora Tsankova, 2021. "Does Labor Protection Increase Support for Immigration? Evidence from Switzerland," CESifo Working Paper Series 9373, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9373
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    Cited by:

    1. Björn Brey, 2021. "The Effect of Recent Technological Change on US Immigration Policy," CESifo Working Paper Series 9302, CESifo.
    2. Adam Levai & Riccardo Turati, 2021. "The Impact of Immigration on Workers’ Protection," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2021021, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES), revised 07 Sep 2021.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    immigration; popular votes; collective bargaining;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • J52 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Dispute Resolution: Strikes, Arbitration, and Mediation
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

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