Welfare policy and immigration attitudes in Western Europe
Vrânceanu, Alina (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Ciència Política i de Dret Públic)
Petrova, Bilyana (University of Zurich.)

Date:	2025
Abstract:	How do welfare systems affect natives' attitudes to immigration? The impact of immigration on public support for welfare and redistribution has received considerable scholarly attention, but we know much less about how welfare policies shape citizens' views about immigration. We focus on two mechanisms: an instrumental channel and a values-based approach. Our empirical strategy is two-pronged. Hierarchical models leveraging variation in immigration attitudes and welfare generosity both between countries and over time (2002-2019) suggest that more comprehensive welfare regimes are associated with more positive views of immigrants. Furthermore, a regression discontinuity design drawing on a natural experiment in Denmark reveals that hostility towards immigrants increased following the announcement of a welfare retrenchment reform. Together, these analyses shed light on how the welfare state influences immigration attitudes.
Note:	Altres ajuts: acords transformatius de la UAB
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, i la comunicació pública de l'obra, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original. No es permet la creació d'obres derivades.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Public opinion ; Immigration ; Welfare states
Published in:	European journal of political research, 2025 , ISSN 1475-6765

DOI: 10.1111/1475-6765.70006

22 p, 617.5 KB

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