Immigration Shocks, Racial Discrimination, and Crime Perceptions

• In Event: Democratic Attitudes, Populism, and Opposition to Immigration in Latin America

Abstract

Do immigration shocks increase concerns about crime? What is the role of immigrants' race informing people's worries about security? We take advantage of a sudden influx of foreign population from other Latin American and Caribbean countries to Chile and of rich administrative data with all the visas requested at the county level from 2014 and 2017 to answer these questions. Using a generalized difference-in-differences design we estimate the effect of an immigration shock (a sudden increase in the number of visas requested) on concerns about crime. Our analysis shows that a rapid shift on immigration at the municipal-level leads to greater concerns about crime only with the arrival of black immigrants (i.e., Haitians). Additionally, we do not find evidence that immigration shocks are actually affecting crime rates.

Authors

• Giancarlo Visconti, Purdue University

• Fernando Severino, University of Minnesota