Do Public Health Crises Dampen Public Support for Immigration?

• In Event: Migration and the COVID-19 Crisis

Abstract

A growing number of studies argue that natives support immigration when they believe immigrants will benefit the host country economically. A similarly compelling body of work has shown that natives are most likely to oppose immigration when they view immigrants as threatening the economy, culture, or physical safety of the country. To date, there are few studies that examined the impact that major health crises within the host country might have on public support for immigration. Our study addresses this gap by drawing on analysis from two survey experiments that were fielded in Japan before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The experiments examine the sources of support and opposition to immigration. This allows us to examine both changes in levels of support for immigration and changes in the mechanisms driving this support. We are able to distinguish between ego-tropic and socio-tropic sources and between economic, cultural, and safety reasons for opposing or supporting immigration.

Authors

• Nicholas Alexander Rymal Fraser, University of California Berkeley

• Michael J. Donnelly, University of Toronto