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Government compensation and citizen support for immigration openness

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  • David H. Bearce
  • Brendan J. Connell

Abstract

This paper explores how government compensation programs like unemployment insurance and worker training may influence citizen attitudes about immigration openness. It considers several different arguments, including the proposition that social welfare programs may induce less‐educated citizens to feel more negatively about their class identity, thus pushing them toward an exclusionary national identity with greater opposition to immigration openness. Using data from the International Social Survey Program's 2013 National Identity module with more than 20,000 respondents from 24 developed democracies, it reports that greater government compensation can be associated with less supportive attitudes for the least educated with a diminishing negative effect for more educated citizens. Consistent with an identity shift argument for why less‐educated citizens might become more hostile toward immigration openness with greater government compensation, it also reports that greater compensation is associated with a more exclusionary national identity for less‐educated citizens.

Suggested Citation

  • David H. Bearce & Brendan J. Connell, 2023. "Government compensation and citizen support for immigration openness," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(1), pages 5-27, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecopol:v:35:y:2023:i:1:p:5-27
    DOI: 10.1111/ecpo.12208
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