Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/232911 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 14159
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Asylum migration is a major societal challenge in the Western world affecting residents' policy preferences. We analyze the effects of newly hosting asylum seekers in a given municipality on local citizens' preferences in terms of migratory and redistributive policies as well as of support or opposition to political change in general. Policy preferences are measured based on citizens' actual voting behavior in national referendums in Switzerland between 1987 and 2017. We exploit the administrative placement of asylum seekers across municipalities and find that citizens vote temporarily slightly more restrictively on immigration issues in national referendums and are less supportive of redistribution than before hosting asylum seekers. Citizens are not more likely to vote for the status quo and not more likely to participate per se.
Subjects: 
asylum seekers
direct democracy
political preferences
pro-immigration attitudes
redistribution
status quo effect
voter participation
JEL: 
F22
H53
I38
J15
Z13
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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