408 International Organization dichotomization of the dependent variable.None of our findings is sensitive at all to the choice of cutoff point. The crucial advantage gained from examining these ESS data,compared to data from alternative surveys used in previous research,is that separate questions have been posed about specific categories of immigrants that are likely to have very different skill characteristics.These distinctions allow for a much more direct test of the arguments about labor-market competition.Prior studies have rested on the assumption that respondents must always have low-skilled immigrants in mind when answering a general survey question about immigration.35 Here we can assume that respondents will have substantially different expectations about the average skill levels of immigrants from "richer"countries than of those from "poorer"countries.The questions were asked consecutively in the survey,making it clear to respondents that"richer"versus "poorer"was the critical difference-a difference that is most obviously meaningful as it bears upon the expected skill levels of immigrants.Respondents are more likely to associate immigrants from the richer nations with higher-skilled individuals (for example,professional and managerial employees from Germany,France,Britain,and the United States),while associating immigrants from poorer nations with lower-skilled individuals (for example,manual workers and refugees from eastern and southern Europe and from Africa).This set of expectations seems intuitively compelling,but we can also verify that it is empirically very accurate.Immigrants from richer nations do have higher skills,on average,than immigrants from poorer nations. To verify this we examined evidence on the skill levels of immigrants compiled in the International File of Immigration Surveys (IFIS)database by van Tuber- gen.36 This database combines survey data on more than 300,000 immigrants from 180 countries of origin and eighteen destination countries,extracted from the Euro- pean Union's Labour Force Survey,national censuses,and additional country- specific immigrant surveys.37 For the European destination nations the IFIS provides data on immigrants from fifty-one origins:twenty-six European and twenty-five non-European countries.38 The data include codes for whether the individual immi- grants had low,middle,or high levels of educational attainment (these corre- 35.See Scheve and Slaughter 2001a,135. 36.van Tubergen 2004. 37.All surveys were harmonized and pooled by van Tubergen into a cross-national data set that provides comparable individual-level information on immigrants,classified by country of origin,for the period 1980-2001.To our knowledge this represents the most comprehensive data set on immi- grant populations currently available.We are indebted to Frank van Tubergen for allowing us to use these data here. 38.The fourteen European destination nations in the IFIS database are Austria,Belgium,Denmark, Finland,France,Germany,Greece,Ireland,Luxembourg,Netherlands,Portugal,Spain,Sweden,and the United Kingdom.In addition to these fourteen,the European origin countries included Albania, Bulgaria,Ex-Czechoslovakia,Ex-Yugoslavia,Hungary,Iceland,Italy,Malta,Norway,Poland,Roma- nia,and Switzerland.The non-European origin nations are Algeria,Argentina,Australia,Brazil,Cam- bodia,Canada,China,Cyprus,Egypt,Ex-Russia,India,Indonesia,Japan,Lebanon,Mexico,Morocco, New Zealand,Pakistan,Philippine,South Africa,Thailand,Tunisia,Turkey,the United States,and Vietnam.dichotomization of the dependent variable+ None of our findings is sensitive at all to the choice of cutoff point+ The crucial advantage gained from examining these ESS data, compared to data from alternative surveys used in previous research, is that separate questions have been posed about specific categories of immigrants that are likely to have very different skill characteristics+ These distinctions allow for a much more direct test of the arguments about labor-market competition+ Prior studies have rested on the assumption that respondents must always have low-skilled immigrants in mind when answering a general survey question about immigration+ 35 Here we can assume that respondents will have substantially different expectations about the average skill levels of immigrants from “richer” countries than of those from “poorer” countries+ The questions were asked consecutively in the survey, making it clear to respondents that “richer” versus “poorer” was the critical difference—a difference that is most obviously meaningful as it bears upon the expected skill levels of immigrants+ Respondents are more likely to associate immigrants from the richer nations with higher-skilled individuals ~for example, professional and managerial employees from Germany, France, Britain, and the United States!, while associating immigrants from poorer nations with lower-skilled individuals ~for example, manual workers and refugees from eastern and southern Europe and from Africa!+ This set of expectations seems intuitively compelling, but we can also verify that it is empirically very accurate+ Immigrants from richer nations do have higher skills, on average, than immigrants from poorer nations+ To verify this we examined evidence on the skill levels of immigrants compiled in the International File of Immigration Surveys ~IFIS! database by van Tuber￾gen+ 36 This database combines survey data on more than 300,000 immigrants from 180 countries of origin and eighteen destination countries, extracted from the Euro￾pean Union’s Labour Force Survey, national censuses, and additional country￾specific immigrant surveys+ 37 For the European destination nations the IFIS provides data on immigrants from fifty-one origins: twenty-six European and twenty-five non-European countries+ 38 The data include codes for whether the individual immi￾grants had low, middle, or high levels of educational attainment ~these corre- 35+ See Scheve and Slaughter 2001a, 135+ 36+ van Tubergen 2004+ 37+ All surveys were harmonized and pooled by van Tubergen into a cross-national data set that provides comparable individual-level information on immigrants, classified by country of origin, for the period 1980–2001+ To our knowledge this represents the most comprehensive data set on immi￾grant populations currently available+ We are indebted to Frank van Tubergen for allowing us to use these data here+ 38+ The fourteen European destination nations in the IFIS database are Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom+ In addition to these fourteen, the European origin countries included Albania, Bulgaria, Ex-Czechoslovakia, Ex-Yugoslavia, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Malta, Norway, Poland, Roma￾nia, and Switzerland+ The non-European origin nations are Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Cam￾bodia, Canada, China, Cyprus, Egypt, Ex-Russia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Lebanon, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippine, South Africa, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, the United States, and Vietnam+ 408 International Organization