Calendrier du 22 septembre 2020
Applied Economics Lunch Seminar
Du 22/09/2020 de 12:30 à 13:30
Salle R1.09, Campus Jourdan
SCHNEIDER-STRAWCZYNSKI Sarah (PSE)
Can Natives Change their Mind? Hosting Refugees and Far-right Support in France
This paper examines the political economy of refugee-hosting. Using the opening of refugee centers in France between 1995 and 2017, I show that the voting for far-right parties has decreased by about 2 percent in cities with such an opening between two presidential elections. I demonstrate that this can not be explained by an economic channel, but rather by the composition and contact channels. I consider the contact theory in relation to the threshold theory, to provide suggestive evidence that too-disruptive contacts, as measured by the magnitude of the flows, geographical distance from natives, cultural distance and media salience of refugees, can mitigate the beneficial effects of contact on the reduction of far-right support.