Turning Opposition into Support to Immigration: The Role of Narratives

Cristina Cattaneo and Daniela Grieco

No 2021, RFBerlin Discussion Paper Series from Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin)

Abstract: The way we collectively discuss migration shapes citizens’ perceptions of migrants and their influence on our society. This paper investigates whether a narrative about the positive impact of immigrants on the hosting economy affects natives’ behaviour towards migrants. To shed light on the underlying mechanism, we present a simple theoretical framework that models the relationship between beliefs, attitude and behaviour and identifies the sequential channels through which a narrative might be useful in changing attitude and behaviour. We test its predictions through an online survey experiment, where we deliver UK natives a favourable narrative about migrants. Treated subjects revise their beliefs about migrants and exhibit significantly more positive self-reported attitudes and more pro-migrant behaviour. Moreover, they update beliefs in a way that gives support to the existence of confirmation bias.

Keywords: Immigration; Survey experiment; Narrative; Attitudes; Beliefs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C90 D83 F22 J15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur, nep-exp, nep-int, nep-ltv, nep-mig, nep-pol and nep-soc
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Journal Article: Turning opposition into support to immigration: The role of narratives (2021)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:crm:wpaper:2021

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