Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/232836 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 14084
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper examines how the 2014-2017 'refugee crisis' in Italy affected voting behaviour and the rise of right-wing populism in national Parliamentary elections. We collect unique administrative data throughout the crisis and leverage exogenous variation in refugee resettlement across Italian municipalities induced by the Dispersal Policy. We find a positive and significant effect of the share of asylum seekers on support for radical-right anti-immigration parties. The effect is heterogeneous across municipality characteristics, yet robust to dispersal policy features. We provide causal evidence that the anti-immigration backlash is not rooted in adverse economic effects, while it is triggered by radical-right propaganda.
Subjects: 
dispersal policy
voting behavior
refugee crisis
immigration
impact evaluation
JEL: 
D72
F22
O15
P16
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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