Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/295755 
Year of Publication: 
2024
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 16732
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We study the effect of local exposure to populism on net population movements by citizenship status, gender, age and education level in the context of Italian municipalities. We present two research designs to estimate the causal effect of populist attitudes and politics. Initially, we use a combination of collective memory and trigger variables as an instrument for the variation in populist vote shares across national elections. Subsequently, we apply a regression discontinuity design to estimate the effect of electing a populist mayor on population movements. We establish three converging findings. First, the exposure to both populist attitudes and policies, as manifested by the vote share of populist parties in national election or the closeelection of a new populist mayor, reduces the attractiveness of municipalities, leading to larger population outflows. Second, the effect is particularly pronounced among young, female, and highly educated natives, who tend to relocate across Italian municipalities rather than internationally. Third, we do not find any effect on the foreign population. Our results highlight a foot-voting mechanism that may contribute to a political polarization in Italian municipalities.
Subjects: 
migration
human capital
populism
Italian politics
JEL: 
D72
F22
F52
J61
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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