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What Drives Individual Attitude towards Immigration in South Africa?

Author

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  • Giovanni Facchini

    () (Erasmus University, University of Milan, Centro Studi Luca d’Agliano, CEPR and CES-Ifo)

  • Anna Maria Mayda

    () (Georgetown University, Centro Studi Luca d’Agliano, CEPR and IZA)

  • Mariapia Mendola

    () (University of Milan Bicocca and Centro Studi Luca d’Agliano)

Abstract

This paper empirically investigates the determinants of individual attitudes towards immigration in South Africa using the 1996, 2001 and 2007 rounds of the World Value Survey. The main question we want to answer is whether South African public opinion on migration is affected by the potential labor market competition of migrants towards natives. We investigate this issue by estimating the impact of survey respondents’ individual skill on their pro-migration attitudes. Our estimates show that the impact of individual skill – measured both with educational attainment and an occupationbased measure – is positive and significant in both 1996 and 2001. Given that in both years immigrants to South Africa are on average more skilled than natives, we conclude that the labor-market channel does not play a role in preference formation over immigration. What might explain the positive impact of individual skill are noneconomic determinants.

Suggested Citation

  • Giovanni Facchini & Anna Maria Mayda & Mariapia Mendola, 2011. "What Drives Individual Attitude towards Immigration in South Africa?," Development Working Papers 325, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano, revised 27 Dec 2011.
    • Handle: RePEc:csl:devewp:325
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Facchini, Giovanni & Willmann, Gerald, 2005. "The political economy of international factor mobility," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 201-219, September.
    2. David Card & Christian Dustmann & Ian Preston, 2012. "Immigration, Wages, And Compositional Amenities," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 10(1), pages 78-119, February.
    3. Giovanni Facchini & Anna Maria Mayda, 2006. "Individual Attitudes towards Immigrants: Welfare-State Determinants Across Countries," Working Papers gueconwpa~06-06-02, Georgetown University, Department of Economics.
    4. Facchini, Giovanni & Mayda, Anna Maria & Mishra, Prachi, 2011. "Do interest groups affect US immigration policy?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(1), pages 114-128, September.
    5. Anna Maria Mayda, 2006. "Who Is Against Immigration? A Cross-Country Investigation of Individual Attitudes toward Immigrants," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 88(3), pages 510-530, August.
    6. Giovanni Facchini & Anna Maria Mayda & Riccardo Puglisi, 2017. "Illegal immigration and media exposure: evidence on individual attitudes," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 7(1), pages 1-36, December.
    7. Giovanni Facchini & Anna Maria Mayda, 2008. "From individual attitudes towards migrants to migration policy outcomes: Theory and evidence," Economic Policy, CEPR;CES;MSH, vol. 23, pages 651-713, October.
    8. Bauer, Thomas K. & Lofstrom, Magnus & Zimmermann, Klaus F., 2000. "Immigration Policy, Assimilation of Immigrants and Natives' Sentiments towards Immigrants: Evidence from 12 OECD-Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 187, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
    9. Dustmann Christian & Preston Ian P, 2007. "Racial and Economic Factors in Attitudes to Immigration," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 7(1), pages 1-41, November.
    10. Mayda, Anna Maria, 2008. "Why are people more pro-trade than pro-migration?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 101(3), pages 160-163, December.
    11. Kenneth F. Scheve & Matthew J. Slaughter, 2001. "Labor Market Competition And Individual Preferences Over Immigration Policy," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 83(1), pages 133-145, February.
    12. Hainmueller, Jens & Hiscox, Michael J., 2007. "Educated Preferences: Explaining Attitudes Toward Immigration in Europe," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 61(02), pages 399-442, April.
    13. Barry Chiswick & Timothy J. Hatton, 2003. "International Migration and the Integration of Labor Markets," NBER Chapters,in: Globalization in Historical Perspective, pages 65-120 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Braakmann Nils & Wildman John & Waqas Muhammad, 2017. "Are Immigrants in Favour of Immigration? Evidence from England and Wales," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 17(1), pages 1-16, February.
    2. Tiiu PAAS & Olga DEMIDOVA, 2014. "How people perceive immigrants’ role in their country’s life: a comparative study of Estonia and Russia," Eastern Journal of European Studies, Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, vol. 5, pages 117-138, December.
    3. Cooray, Arusha & Marfouk, Abdeslam & Nazir, Maliha, 2018. "Public Opinion and Immigration: Who Favors Employment Discrimination against Immigrants?," GLO Discussion Paper Series 175, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    4. Hansen, Ole-Petter Moe & Legge, Stefan, 2017. "Quantifying Determinants of Immigration Preferences," Economics Working Paper Series 1710, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    5. Yamamura, Eiji & Shin, Inyong, 2014. "Effect of consuming imported cultural goods on tolerance for immigrants from trade partners: Case of Japanese anime in Korea," MPRA Paper 58467, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Eiji Yamamura & Inyong Shin, 2016. "Effect of consuming imported cultural goods on trading partners’ tolerance toward immigrants: the case of Japanese anime in Korea," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 152(4), pages 681-703, November.
    7. Tiiu Paas & Olga Demidova, 2014. "What Explains People’S Attitudes Towards Immigrants? A Comparative Study Of Estonia And Russia," University of Tartu - Faculty of Economics and Business Administration Working Paper Series 94, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, University of Tartu (Estonia).
    8. Jonathan Crush, 2014. "Southern hub: the globalization of migration to South Africa," Chapters,in: International Handbook on Migration and Economic Development, chapter 8, pages 211-240 Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Lewis S. Davis & Sumit S. Deole, 2015. "Immigration, Attitudes and the Rise of the Political Right: The Role of Cultural and Economic Concerns over Immigration," CESifo Working Paper Series 5680, CESifo Group Munich.
    10. Alexandra Doyle & Amos C Peters & Asha Sundaram, 2014. "Skills mismatch and informal sector participation among educated immigrants: Evidence from South Africa," SALDRU Working Papers 137, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.
    11. Meseguer, Covadonga & Kemmerling, Achim, 2016. "What do you fear? Anti-immigrant sentiment in Latin America," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 66302, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    12. repec:bla:tvecsg:v:108:y:2017:i:6:p:821-835 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. repec:bla:intmig:v:50:y:2016:i:4:p:1046-1075 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Augustin de Coulon & Dragos Radu & Max Friedrich Steinhardt, 2016. "Pane e Cioccolata: The Impact of Native Attitudes on Return Migration," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 253-281, May.
    15. d׳Hombres, Béatrice & Nunziata, Luca, 2016. "Wish you were here? Quasi-experimental evidence on the effect of education on self-reported attitude toward immigrants," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 201-224.
    16. repec:spr:jhappi:v:19:y:2018:i:2:d:10.1007_s10902-016-9838-6 is not listed on IDEAS

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Immigration Attitudes; South Africa;

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

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