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Brothers or Invaders? How Crises-Driven Migrants Shape Voting Behavior

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  • Sandra Rozo

    (University of Southern California)

  • Juan Vargas

    (Universidad del Rosario)

Abstract

Can voter’s negative attitudes toward immigration be explained by self-interest or sociotropic motives? Self-interested voters care about their personal economic circumstances. Sociotropic voters display in-group bias and perceive migrants as threats to their culture. We study the voting effects of forced internal and international migration in Colombia and exploit the disproportionate flows of migrants to municipalities with early settlements of individuals from their origin locations. In line with the sociotropic hypothesis, we find that only international migration inflows increase political participation and shift votes from left- to right-wing ideologies. These results are not accounted for by the observed changes caused by migrants in socioeconomic variables.

Suggested Citation

  • Sandra Rozo & Juan Vargas, 2019. "Brothers or Invaders? How Crises-Driven Migrants Shape Voting Behavior," Empirical Studies of Conflict Project (ESOC) Working Papers 12, Empirical Studies of Conflict Project.
    • Handle: RePEc:pri:esocpu:12
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Colombia; Economic Development; Political Development; Demographic; Socioeconomic;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • F2 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

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