Who’s afraid of immigration? The effect of economic preferences on tolerance

Abstract

This paper suggests that intergenerationally transmitted ancestral characteristics have a significant impact on attitudes toward immigration. Using a sub-population of second-generation immigrants from the European Social Survey (ESS), we find that historical and linguistic factors that contributed to weaker long-term orientation and higher risk aversion are associated with a greater concern, especially among medium- and low-skilled workers, about the economic consequences of immigration and the admission of poorer immigrants. The results are robust to alternative sample definitions, estimation methodology, a rich set of geographical controls, and several potential confounding factors at the country of origin level.