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Divided island: Haitian immigration and electoral outcomes in the Dominican Republic

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  • Pascal Jaupart

Abstract

This paper provides new evidence on the effect of immigration on electoral outcomes in developing countries and emerging democracies. The Dominican Republic (DR) is used as case study as it provides a highly interesting context to analyse this issue. The majority of its immigrants come from neighbouring Haiti, and together the two countries share the island of Hispaniola. The analysis relies on a novel municipality panel dataset and an instrumental variable strategy to address the endogeneity of the location decisions of immigrants. I find robust evidence that higher immigrant concentration causes greater support for the right-wing political coalition that has traditionally been more opposed to immigration. At the same time, the popularity of the centre coalition is found to decline in localities characterised by a larger exposure to foreigners. Empirical evidence from election outcomes and opinion survey data suggests that citizenship, political competition and cultural identity considerations might be shaping individual attitudes towards immigrants in the DR.

Suggested Citation

  • Pascal Jaupart, 2018. "Divided island: Haitian immigration and electoral outcomes in the Dominican Republic," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 18(4), pages 951-999.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jecgeo:v:18:y:2018:i:4:p:951-999.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jeg/lby030
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    Cited by:

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    2. Bedasso Biniam E. & Jaupart Pascal, 2020. "South-South migration and elections: evidence from post-apartheid South Africa," IZA Journal of Development and Migration, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 11(1), pages 1-47, January.
    3. Clotilde Mahé & Sergio Parra-Cely, 2021. "Panic? Probing Angst over Immigration and Crime," DEM Discussion Paper Series 21-04, Department of Economics at the University of Luxembourg.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Attitudes; Dominican Republic; elections; Haiti; immigration; political economy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior

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