Immigration and Voting for the Far Right

Zweimüller, Josef, Alexander Wagner and Martin Halla
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Josef Zweimüller ()

No 9102, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: Does the presence of immigrants in one's neighbourhood affect voting for far right-wing parties? We study the case of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) which, under the leadership of Jörg Haider, increased its vote share from less than 5 percent in the early 1980s to 27 percent by the end of the 1990s and continued to attract more than 20 percent of voters in the 2013 national election. We find that the inflow of immigrants into a community has a significant impact on the increase in the community's voting share for the FPÖ, explaining roughly a tenth of the regional variation in vote changes. Our results suggest that voters worry about adverse labor market effects of immigration, as well as about the quality of their neighbourhood. In fact, we find evidence of a negative impact of immigration on "compositional amenities." In communities with larger immigration influx, Austrian children commute longer distances to school, and fewer daycare resources are provided. We do not find evidence that Austrians move out of communities with increasing immigrant presence.

Keywords: Immigration; Political economy; Voting (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J61 P16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm, nep-pol and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (26)

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Journal Article: Immigration and Voting for the Far Right (2017)
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