Do Elections Affect Immigration? Evidence From French Municipalities

Benoit Schmutz and Gregory Verdugo

No 15849, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Using thirty years of municipal elections in France, we show that election results affect the share of immigrants across municipalities. In municipalities where a left- instead of right-wing mayor has been elected, the share of immigrants in the population grows faster by 1.5 p.p. within six years after the elections, and by 3 p.p. within twelve years. To a large extent, these effects are driven by partisan differences in public housing constructions and changes in the composition of the population within existing public housing units. They also are associated with greater incumbency advantage, in line with a model of strategic partisan behavior.

Keywords: local elections; public housing; immigration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 H4 H7 R38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 70 pages
Date: 2023-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-eur, nep-pol and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Published - published in: Journal of Public Economics, 2023, 218, 104803

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Journal Article: Do elections affect immigration? Evidence from French municipalities (2023)
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