Immigrant Rights Expansion and Local Integration: Evidence from Italy

Stephanie Kang and Francesco Ferlenga

No 1521, Working Papers from Barcelona School of Economics

Abstract: We study how expanding immigrants' rights affects their political and social integration by leveraging Romania's 2007 EU accession, which granted Romanian immigrants in Italy municipal voting and residency rights. Using municipality-level event studies, we find: (1) Enfranchisement increased the election of Romanian-born councilors — especially in competitive races — despite limited changes in candidacy rates. It also increased Romanian turnout, suggesting that electoral gains stem from an expanded voter base. An instrumented difference-in-differences analysis shows this is driven by pre-existing Romanian residents, not new arrivals. (2) Consent to organ donation rose among Romanians post-2007, indicating that the expansion of rights extends to prosocial behavior. (3) Nonetheless, immigrant presence continues to raise support for right-leaning parties and security spending while reducing social spending, highlighting persistent native backlash that outweighs immigrant political influence.

Keywords: enfranchisement; migrant integration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 J15 J18 P16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm, nep-eur, nep-pol and nep-tra
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bge:wpaper:1521

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