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Do People Avoid Morally Relevant Information? Evidence from the Refugee Crisis

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  • Freddi, Eleonora

    (Tilburg University, Center For Economic Research)

Abstract

Combining click data from a Swedish newspaper and administrative data on asylum seekers in Sweden, I examine whether a larger presence of refugees in a municipality induces people to avoid news that may encourage welcoming the newcomers. Exploiting the unexpected inflow of refugees to Sweden during 2015 and their exogenous allocation across Swedish municipalities, I find that people living in municipalities where the relative number of refugees is larger read fewer articles about asylum seekers. The decrease in clicks is 36% larger for more empathic articles and is correlated with less engagement in activities aimed at welcoming refugees.
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Suggested Citation

  • Freddi, Eleonora, 2017. "Do People Avoid Morally Relevant Information? Evidence from the Refugee Crisis," Discussion Paper 2017-034, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:tiu:tiucen:ee7c017f-1996-47d3-9d73-2f83695e2b95
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    Keywords

    information avoidance; refugee crisis; motivated beliefs; click data;
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