Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/307167 
Year of Publication: 
2024
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 17343
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We study whether the arrival of a new immigrant wave changes natives' acceptance of former immigrants and their descendants. We exploit the 2015 European refugee crisis and the context of German open-list local council elections where voting for immigrant-origin candidates represents a consequential revealed preference. We combine hand-collected candidate-level election data with administrative asylum seeker data. Continuous difference-in-differences estimations (based on municipal %∆ in asylum seekers) reveal that immigrant-origin candidates receive more votes the more asylum seekers arrived locally. This shift in social group boundaries is driven by candidates with a Southern/Eastern European origin being culturally similar to Germans.
Subjects: 
immigration
immigrant-origin candidates
local elections
social acceptance
cultural similarity
JEL: 
D72
F22
J11
J15
N34
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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