Bitterness in Life and Attitudes Towards Immigration

Arbeitspapier

Integration of immigrants is a two-way process, the success of which depends both on immigrants and on natives. We provide new evidence on the determinants of individual attitudes towards immigration, using data from the 2005 and 2010 waves of the German Socio-Economic Panel. In particular, we show that bitterness in life is strongly associated with worries about immigration. This effect cannot be explained just by concerns that immigrants are competing with oneself in the labor market. Instead, it appears that people who feel that they have not got what they deserve in life oppose immigration for spiteful reasons.

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• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: CESifo Working Paper ; No. 5611

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior ; International Migration ; Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
• Subject: immigration ; bitterness ; native attitudes

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Poutvaara, Panu ; Steinhardt, Max
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo)
• (where): Munich
• (when): 2015

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/123251