Dustmann and Preston:Racial and Economic Factors in Attitudes to Immigration 1 Introduction The debate on immigration features highly on the political agenda both in Europe and in the US.The economic consequences of immigration for the native population,the perceived effects on cultural identity and social cohe- sion,and the strong feelings involved make immigration a topic which figures prominently in political campaigning.Regulations concerning immigration are frequently adjusted according to changes in the economic situation.Often however it is not the economic considerations alone,but shifts in general atti- tudes of the public towards immigration that lead to re-design of immigration policies.To understand what drives individual preferences over immigration policies is thus an important research area,both for descriptive political econ- omy and for policy design,and recently a literature has developed that analyses this. A prime concern often thought to influence the way preferences over further immigration are formed is the way in which individuals perceive the effects of immigration on the labour market.In an important paper on attitudes to- wards further immigration,Scheve and Slaughter(2001)suggest that the way individuals assess these effects may relate to basic intuitions about labour mar- ket equilibria.Simple models with a single output good and multiple labour types (see for example,Altonji and Card,1991)do point to a possibility for immigration to harm those workers who compete with immigrants.2 Scheve and Slaughter(2001)report a strong relationship between education and more favourable attitudes to further immigration,which is consistent with the hy- pothesis that the low skilled are opposed to immigration because of a fear of labour market competition.Mayda(2005),arguing within a similar theoretical setting and using cross-country data,finds evidence for a positive correlation between individual skill level and pro-immigration attitudes in countries where the relative skill ratio of natives to immigrants is high.Using cross-state varia- 1Other papers that analyse the determinants of individual preferences over immigration policies in several countries include Gang,Rivera-Batiz and Yun (2002),Mayda (2005), Fertig and Schmidt(2002),Bauer,Lofstrom and Zimmermann(2001),O'Rourke and Sinnott (2003).Hanson.Scheve and Slaughter (2004.2005)and Facchini and Mayda (2006).Aslund and Rooth(2005)study shifts in attitudes in response to the terrorist attacks of 9/11 2Empirical evidence establishing the existence of adverse effects is scarce (see Borjas 1999b,and Friedberg and Hunt 1995 for overviews),although there is an ongoing debate on the issue(see e.g.Card 2005 and Borjas 2003 for diverging views).Lewis(2003,2005) tests the hypothesis of two alternative adjustment mechanisms to immigration,adjustment through output mix(see the discussions in Leamer and Levinsohn 1995,and Gaston and Nelson 2000),and within-industry technology adjustment,and finds strong evidence for the latter. Published by The Berkeley Electronic Press,20071 Introduction The debate on immigration features highly on the political agenda both in Europe and in the US. The economic consequences of immigration for the native population, the perceived e§ects on cultural identity and social cohe￾sion, and the strong feelings involved make immigration a topic which Ögures prominently in political campaigning. Regulations concerning immigration are frequently adjusted according to changes in the economic situation. Often however it is not the economic considerations alone, but shifts in general atti￾tudes of the public towards immigration that lead to re-design of immigration policies. To understand what drives individual preferences over immigration policies is thus an important research area, both for descriptive political econ￾omy and for policy design, and recently a literature has developed that analyses this. A prime concern often thought to ináuence the way preferences over further immigration are formed is the way in which individuals perceive the e§ects of immigration on the labour market. In an important paper on attitudes to￾wards further immigration, Scheve and Slaughter (2001) suggest that the way individuals assess these e§ects may relate to basic intuitions about labour mar￾ket equilibria.1 Simple models with a single output good and multiple labour types (see for example, Altonji and Card, 1991) do point to a possibility for immigration to harm those workers who compete with immigrants.2 Scheve and Slaughter (2001) report a strong relationship between education and more favourable attitudes to further immigration, which is consistent with the hy￾pothesis that the low skilled are opposed to immigration because of a fear of labour market competition. Mayda (2005), arguing within a similar theoretical setting and using cross-country data, Önds evidence for a positive correlation between individual skill level and pro-immigration attitudes in countries where the relative skill ratio of natives to immigrants is high. Using cross-state varia- 1Other papers that analyse the determinants of individual preferences over immigration policies in several countries include Gang, Rivera-Batiz and Yun (2002), Mayda (2005), Fertig and Schmidt (2002), Bauer, Lofstrom and Zimmermann (2001), OíRourke and Sinnott (2003), Hanson, Scheve and Slaughter (2004, 2005) and Facchini and Mayda (2006). Aslund and Rooth (2005) study shifts in attitudes in response to the terrorist attacks of 9/11. 2Empirical evidence establishing the existence of adverse e§ects is scarce (see Borjas 1999b, and Friedberg and Hunt 1995 for overviews), although there is an ongoing debate on the issue (see e.g. Card 2005 and Borjas 2003 for diverging views). Lewis (2003, 2005) tests the hypothesis of two alternative adjustment mechanisms to immigration, adjustment through output mix (see the discussions in Leamer and Levinsohn 1995, and Gaston and Nelson 2000), and within-industry technology adjustment, and Önds strong evidence for the latter. 1 Dustmann and Preston: Racial and Economic Factors in Attitudes to Immigration Published by The Berkeley Electronic Press, 2007