Illegal immigration and media exposure: Evidence on individual attitudes

Anna Maria Mayda, Giovanni Facchini and Riccardo Puglisi

No 7593, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: Illegal immigration has been the focus of much debate in receiving countries, but little is known about what drives individual attitudes towards illegal immigrants. To study this question, we use the CCES survey, which was carried out in 2006 in the United States. We find evidence that - in addition to standard labor market and welfare state considerations - media exposure is significantly correlated with public opinion on illegal immigration. Controlling for education, income and ideology, individuals watching Fox News are 9 percentage points more likely than CBS viewers to oppose the legalization of undocumented immigrants. We find an effect of the same size and direction for CNN viewers, whereas individuals watching PBS are instead more likely to support legalization. Ideological self-selection into different news programs plays an important role, but cannot entirely explain the correlation between media exposure and attitudes about illegal immigration.

Keywords: Immigration; Illegal immigration; Attitudes; Preferences; Media (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F1 F22 J61 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mig and nep-pol
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (26)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Illegal immigration and media exposure: evidence on individual attitudes (2017)
Working Paper: Illegal Immigration and Media Exposure: Evidence on Individual Attitudes (2009)
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