Emigration and tolerance: Does preserving connections help enhance social tolerance in Romania?

Abstract

By using World Value Survey data, I investigated whether emigration contributed to raising the level of social tolerance in Romania. In investigating this hypothesis, I used two waves of survey data for building a social tolerance index and analyzing it in relation to country specific questions on migration (having or not friends or relatives who live abroad and the frequency of communicating with them). I also took into account the influence of specific demographic variables (age, education, residence - urban vs. rural) and thus investigated the incremental effect of migration variables beyond that of the traditional factors. The results from multinomial logistic regressions show that there is an increased probability of having a higher tolerance level for persons who have friends or relatives living abroad with whom they talk, the reverse being also valid - higher chances of being less tolerant for individuals who do not have friends or relatives who have emigrated. Furthermore, rare communication increases the probability of lower tolerance levels, while average frequency communication significantly increases the probability of high tolerance levels. The impact of frequent contact is not clear-cut, as high frequency communication does not seem to be always significant in the multinomial logistic regression. Nevertheless, when significant it offers an interesting view on the importance of strong connectivity on 2018 data, suggesting that it supports average levels of tolerance. Association analysis confirms the results of logistic regression.