Biased beliefs about immigration and economic concerns: Evidence from representative experiments

Abstract

We investigate the causal relationship between biased beliefs about immigrants and the host country's attitudes towards immigration. Using representative survey experiments with over 7000 respondents, we find substantial biases in respondents' beliefs about the immigrant population in several domains. Exposure to different types of information about immigrants reduces concerns about negative effects of immigration on the welfare state. On the contrary, different types of information offset their effects on concerns about increased competition in the labor market. Using a data-driven approach to uncover systematic heterogeneity in treatment effects, we find that prior beliefs about immigration and their distribution in the host country's population are crucial for the effectiveness of information interventions. We conclude that different distributions of beliefs therefore require appropriately targeted information policies.