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Ethnic Concentration and Extreme Right-Wing Voting Behavior in West Germany

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  • Verena Dill

Abstract

Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) and administrative data from 1996 to 2009, I investigate the question whether or not right-wing extremism of German residents is affected by the ethnic concentration of foreigners living in the same residential area. My results show a positive but insignificant relationship between ethnic concentration at county level and the probability of extreme right-wing voting behavior for West Germany. However, due to potential endogeneity issues, I additionally instrument the share of foreigners in a county with the share of foreigners in each federal state (following an approach of Dustmann/Preston 2001). I find evidence for the interethnic contact theory, predicting a negative relationship between foreigners’ share and right-wing voting. Moreover, I analyze the moderating role of education and the influence of cultural traits on this relationship.

Suggested Citation

  • Verena Dill, 2013. "Ethnic Concentration and Extreme Right-Wing Voting Behavior in West Germany," Research Papers in Economics 2013-02, University of Trier, Department of Economics.
  • Handle: RePEc:trr:wpaper:201302
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    3. Fremerey, Melinda & Hörnig, Lukas & Schaffner, Sandra, 2022. "Becoming neighbors with refugees and voting for the far-right? The impact of refugee inflows at the small-scale level," DICE Discussion Papers 387, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    4. Leonardo Bursztyn & Thomas Chaney & Tarek Alexander & Hassan Aakaash Rao, 2022. "The Immigrant Next Door: Long-Term Contact, Generosity, and Prejudice," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-03870145, HAL.
    5. Michaela Slotwinski & Alois Stutzer, 2019. "The deterrent effect of an anti-minaret vote on foreigners’ location choices," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 32(3), pages 1043-1095, July.
    6. Leonardo Bursztyn & Thomas Chaney & Tarek Alexander & Hassan Aakaash Rao, 2022. "The Immigrant Next Door: Long-Term Contact, Generosity, and Prejudice," Working Papers hal-03870145, HAL.
    7. Slotwinski, Michaela & Stutzer, Alois, 2015. "The Deterrent Effect of Voting Against Minarets: Identity Utility and Foreigners' Location Choice," IZA Discussion Papers 9497, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Leonardo Bursztyn & Thomas Chaney & Tarek Alexander Hassan & Aakash Rao, 2021. "The Immigrant Next Door: Exposure, Prejudice, and Altruism," Working Papers 2021-16, Becker Friedman Institute for Research In Economics.
    9. Jirjahn, Uwe & Le, Thi Xuan Thu, 2023. "Works Councils and Workers' Party Preferences in Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 15879, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Ethnic concentration; extreme right-wing voting; group threat; interethnic contact;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination

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