Voice of the Diaspora: An Analysis of Migrant Voting Behavior

Jan Fidrmuc and Orla Doyle

William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series from William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Abstract: This paper utilizes a unique dataset on votes cast by Czech and Polish migrants in their recent national elections to investigate the impact of institutional, political and economic characteristics on migrants’ voting behavior. The political preferences of migrants are strikingly different from those of their domestic counterparts. In addition, there are also important differences among migrants living in different countries. This paper examines three alternative hypotheses to explain migrant voting behavior: adaptive learning; economic self-selection and political selfselection. The results of the analysis suggest that migrant voting behavior is affected by the institutional environment of the host countries, in particular the tradition of democracy and the extent of economic freedom. In contrast, there is little evidence that differences in migrants’ political attitudes are caused by self-selection based either on economic motives or political attitudes prior to migrating. These results are interpreted as indicating that migrants’ political preferences change in the wake of migration as they adapt to the norms and values prevailing in their surroundings.

Keywords: Voting; elections; migration; political resocialization; transition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J61 P26 P33 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 58 pages
Date: 2004-07-01
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Voice of the diaspora: An analysis of migrant voting behavior (2005)
Working Paper: Voice of the Diaspora: An Analysis of Migrant Voting Behaviour (2004)
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