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Does growing up in economic hard times increase compassion? The case of attitudes towards immigration

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  • Cotofan, Maria
  • Dur, Robert
  • Meier, Stephan

Abstract

There is some evidence that people who grew up in economic hard times more strongly favor government redistribution and are more compassionate towards the poor. We investigate how inclusive this increase in compassion is by studying how macroeconomic conditions experienced during young adulthood affect immigration attitudes. Using US and global data, we show that experiencing bad macroeconomic circumstances strengthen anti-immigration attitudes for life. Moreover, we find that people become generally more outgroup hostile. Our results thus suggest that the underlying motive for more government redistribution is not a universal increase in compassion, but more self-interested and restricted to one's ingroup.

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  • Cotofan, Maria & Dur, Robert & Meier, Stephan, 2024. "Does growing up in economic hard times increase compassion? The case of attitudes towards immigration," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 218(C), pages 245-262.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:218:y:2024:i:c:p:245-262
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2023.11.023
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Immigration; Attitudes; Social preferences; Parochialism; Redistribution; Macroeconomic conditions; Impressionable years;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D9 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics
    • E7 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macro-Based Behavioral Economics
    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics

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