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What Drives Individual Attitude towards Immigration in South Africa?

Author Info

  • 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.

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File URL: http://www.dagliano.unimi.it/media/WP2011_325.pdf
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Paper provided by Centro Studi Luca d\'Agliano, University of Milano in its series Development Working Papers with number 325.

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Length: 50
Date of creation: 27 Dec 2011
Date of revision: 27 Dec 2011
Handle: RePEc:csl:devewp:325
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Keywords: Immigration Attitudes; South Africa;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by 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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  1. Dustmann, Christian & Preston, Ian, 2000. "Racial and Economic Factors in Attitudes to Immigration," IZA Discussion Papers 190, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  2. Anna Maria Mayda & Giovanni Facchini, 2006. "Individual Attitudes towards Immigrants: Welfare-State Determinants Across Countries," The Institute for International Integration Studies Discussion Paper Series iiisdp143, IIIS.
  3. Mayda, Anna Maria, 2004. "Who Is Against Immigration? A Cross-Country Investigation of Individual Attitudes toward Immigrants," IZA Discussion Papers 1115, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  4. Giovanni Facchini & Anna Maria Mayda & Riccardo Puglisi, 2009. "Illegal Immigration and Media Exposure: Evidence on Individual Attitudes," Development Working Papers 285, Centro Studi Luca d\'Agliano, University of Milano.
  5. Chiswick, Barry R. & Hatton, Timothy J., 2002. "International Migration and the Integration of Labor Markets," IZA Discussion Papers 559, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  6. 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.
  7. Mayda, Anna Maria, 2007. "Why Are People More Pro-trade Than Pro-migration?," CEPR Discussion Papers 6351, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  8. Prachi Mishra & Giovanni Facchini & Anna Maria Mayda, 2008. "Do Interest Groups Affect U.S. Immigration Policy?," IMF Working Papers 08/244, International Monetary Fund.
  9. Facchini, Giovanni & Mayda, Anna Maria, 2008. "From individual attitudes towards migrants to migration policy outcomes: Theory and evidence," CEPR Discussion Papers 6835, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  10. David Card & Christian Dustmann & Ian Preston, 2009. "Immigration, Wages, and Compositional Amenities," CReAM Discussion Paper Series 0929, Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM), Department of Economics, University College London.
  11. 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).
  12. Facchini, Giovanni & Willmann, Gerald, 2005. "The political economy of international factor mobility," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 201-219, September.
  13. 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.
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Cited by:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.

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