We examine the relationship between immigration and preferences for redistribution in Europe using a newly assembled dataset of immigrant stocks for 140 regions in 16 Western European countries. Exploiting within-country variations in the share of immigrants at the regional level, we find that native respondents display lower support for redistribution when the share of immigrants in their residence region is higher. This negative association is driven by regions of countries with relatively large welfare states and by respondents at the center or at the right of the political spectrum. It is stronger when immigrants originate from Middle-Eastern or Eastern European countries, are less skilled than natives and experience more residential segregation. These results are unlikely to be driven by immigrants’ endogenous location choices, that is, by welfare magnet effects or by immigrants’ sorting into regions with better economic opportunities. They are also robust to instrumenting immigration using a standard shift-share approach.

HighlightsWe examine the relationship between immigration and preferences for redistribution in Europe using a newly assembled data set of immigrant stocks for 140 regions in 16 Western European countries.Exploiting within-country variations in the share of immigrants at the regional level, we find that native respondents display lower support for redistribution when the share of immigrants in their residence region is higher.This negative association is driven by regions of countries with relatively large Welfare States and by respondents at the center or at the right of the political spectrum.The effects are also stronger when immigrants originate from Middle-Eastern or Eastern European countries, are less skilled than natives, and experience more residential segregation.These results are unlikely to be driven by immigrants' endogenous location choices, that is, by welfare magnet effects or by immigrants' sorting into regions with better economic opportunities. They are also robust to instrumenting immigration with a standard shift-share approach or to controlling for regional growth prospects.They are also robust to instrumenting immigration with a standard shift-share approach or to controlling for regional growth prospects. AbstractWe examine the relationship between immigration and preferences for redistribution in Europe using a newly assembled data set of immigrant stocks for 140 regions in 16 Western European countries. Exploiting within-country variations in the share of immigrants at the regional level, we find that native respondents display lower support for redistribution when the share of immigrants in their residence region is higher. This negative association is driven by regions of countries with relatively large Welfare States and by respondents at the center or at the right of the political spectrum. The effects are also stronger when immigrants originate from Middle-Eastern or Eastern European countries, are less skilled than natives, and experience more residential segregation. These results are unlikely to be driven by immigrants' endogenous location choices, that is, by welfare magnet effects or by immigrants' sorting into regions with better economic opportunities. They are also robust to instrumenting immigration with a standard shiftshare approach or to controlling for regional growth prospects.

The migration literature typically assumes that the migration of a household member is not associated with further variations in co-residence choices. We rely on a Mexican panel survey to provide novel evidence on the correlation between the occurrence of an international migration episode and changes in household composition. Migrant households have a higher probability of receiving a new member within one year around the migration episode. Attrition is significantly higher among migrant households, and we provide evidence that this is partly due to the dissolution of the household of origin of the migrant. The endogeneity of co-residence choices induces an undercount of migration episodes, as shown with data from the 2000 Census. This has implications for the analysis of migrant selection and of the effects on the individuals left behind. Dealing with these analytical challenges requires an approach to data collection that is less dependent on variations in household composition.

No abstract

Any opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author(s) and not those of IZA. Research published in this series may include views on policy, but IZA takes no institutional policy positions. The IZA research network is committed to the IZA Guiding Principles of Research Integrity. The IZA Institute of Labor Economics is an independent economic research institute that conducts research in labor economics and offers evidence-based policy advice on labor market issues. Supported by the Deutsche Post Foundation, IZA runs the world's largest network of economists, whose research aims to provide answers to the global labor market challenges of our time. Our key objective is to build bridges between academic research, policymakers and society. IZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be available directly from the author.