Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/278862 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 16164
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We analyze whether second-generation immigrants have different political preferences relative to children of citizens. Using data on individual voting behavior in 22 European countries between 2001 and 2017, we characterize each vote on a left-right scale based on the ideological and policy positions of the party. First, we describe and characterize the size of the "left-wing bias" in the vote of second-generation immigrants after controlling for a large set of individual characteristics and origin and destination country fixed effects. We find a significant left-wing bias of second-generation immigrants, similar in magnitude to the left-wing bias of those with a secondary, relative to a primary, education. We then show that this left-wing bias is associated with stronger preferences for inequality-reducing government intervention, internationalism and multiculturalism. We find only weak evidence that second-generation immigrants are biased away from populist political agendas and no evidence that they have stronger preferences for pro-immigrant policies. Finally, we show that growing up with a father who is struggling to integrate into the labor market is a strong predictor of this left-wing bias.
Subjects: 
immigration
elections
Europe
JEL: 
D72
J61
P16
Z1
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
4.43 MB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.