Explaining Cross-Country Differences in Attitudes Towards Immigration in the EU-15

TY - UNPB

T1 - Explaining Cross-Country Differences in Attitudes Towards Immigration in the EU-15

AU - Malchow-Møller, Nikolaj

AU - Munch, Jakob Roland

AU - Skaksen, Jan Rose

N1 - JEL classification: F1, F22, J61

PY - 2007

Y1 - 2007

N2 - In this paper, we use data from the first two rounds of the European Social Survey to analyse the extent to which differences in average attitudes towards immigration across the EU-15 countries may be explained by differences in socioeconomic characteristics and individually perceived consequences of immigration, using an extension of a decomposition technique developed by Fairlie (2005). We find that despite the significant effects of socioeconomic characteristics on attitudes, differences in the distributions of these characteristics can only explain a modest share of the cross-country variation in average attitudes. A larger part can be explained by differences in perceived consequences of immigration, but the main part is still left unexplained. Apart from providing useful input for policy makers working in the area of immigration policy, this raises a number of questions for further research for which the ESS data can be successfully applied

AB - In this paper, we use data from the first two rounds of the European Social Survey to analyse the extent to which differences in average attitudes towards immigration across the EU-15 countries may be explained by differences in socioeconomic characteristics and individually perceived consequences of immigration, using an extension of a decomposition technique developed by Fairlie (2005). We find that despite the significant effects of socioeconomic characteristics on attitudes, differences in the distributions of these characteristics can only explain a modest share of the cross-country variation in average attitudes. A larger part can be explained by differences in perceived consequences of immigration, but the main part is still left unexplained. Apart from providing useful input for policy makers working in the area of immigration policy, this raises a number of questions for further research for which the ESS data can be successfully applied

M3 - Working paper

BT - Explaining Cross-Country Differences in Attitudes Towards Immigration in the EU-15

PB - Centre for Economic and Business Research

CY - Cph.

ER -