Immigration, Political Ideologies and the Polarization of American Politics

Axel Dreher, Sarah Langlotz, Johannes Matzat and Christopher Parsons

No 15587, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: We provide causal evidence showing that migration increased the polarization of politicians campaigning for the House of Representatives between 1992 and 2016. Our polarization measures derive from ideology data based on 3 million campaign contributions. Our shift-share estimates hold over the medium-run, although they wane over time. These effects are strengthened should counties host similarly educated or more culturally distant migrants. Contributors' race, employment status and occupations play important roles. Our results hold when focusing specifically upon refugees, where we exploit the spatial and temporal variation stemming from the opening of refugee resettlement centers for the sake of causal identification.

Keywords: Migration; Refugees; Polarization; Political ideology; United states (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F52 F63 J15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-int, nep-pol and nep-soc
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Working Paper: Immigration, Political Ideologies, and the Polarization of American Politics (2020)
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