The Determinants of Individual Attitudes Towards Immigration

Kevin O'Rourke and Richard Sinnott
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Richard Sinnott: Postal: Department of Economics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

Economic Papers from Trinity College Dublin, Economics Department

Abstract: The paper uses a cross-country dataset to investigate the determinants of individual attitudes towards immigration. There are three main conclusions. The first is that attitudes towards immigration are not a function of economic interests alone; rather, they also reflect nationalist sentiment among respondents. The second is that for labour market participants, standard economic theory does a good job of predicting individual attitudes towards immigration. The high-skilled are less opposed to immigration than the low-skilled, and this effect is greater in richer countries than in poorer countries, consistent with Heckscher-Ohlin theory; and in more equal countries than in more unequal ones (consistent with the Borjas theory of immigrant self-selection). On the other hand, non-economic factors are much more important in determining the attitudes of those not in the labour force.

Date: 2004
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Related works:
Journal Article: The determinants of individual attitudes towards immigration (2006)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:tcd:tcduee:20042

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