Do Natives' Beliefs About Refugees' Education Level Affect Attitudes Toward Refugees? Evidence from Randomized Survey Experiments

Arbeitspapier

In recent years, Europe has experienced an unprecedented influx of refugees. While natives’ attitudes toward refugees are decisive for the political feasibility of asylum policies, little is known about how these attitudes are shaped by refugees’ characteristics. We conducted survey experiments with more than 5,000 university students in Germany in which we exogenously shifted participants’ beliefs about refugees’ education level through information provision. Consistent with economic theory, we find that beliefs about refugees’ education significantly affect concerns about labor market competition. These concerns, however, do not translate into general attitudes because economic aspects are rather unimportant for forming attitudes toward refugees.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: CESifo Working Paper ; No. 6832

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Crisis Management ; National Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs ; Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty: Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs ; Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness ; Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior ; Capitalist Systems: Political Economy
• Subject: refugees ; information provision ; education ; survey experiment ; labor market

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Lergetporer, Philipp ; Piopiunik, Marc ; Simon, Lisa
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo)
• (where): Munich
• (when): 2017

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/174955
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET