Research
Publications
(with: Isabelle Bensidoun and Anthony Edo )
[Cite: Oscar Barrera-Rodríguez, Isabelle Bensidoun, Anthony Edo, Second-generation immigrants and native attitudes toward immigrants in Europe, Migration Studies, 2024;, mnae010, ]
This paper investigates how immigrants and their children shaped native attitudes toward immigrants in the European Union. By exploiting the 2017 Special Eurobarometer on immigrant integration, we show that countries with a relatively high share of immigrants are more likely to believe that immigrants are a burden on the welfare system and worsen crime. In contrast, native opinions on the impact of immigration on culture and the labor market are unrelated to the presence of immigrants. We also find that the effects of second-generation immigrants on pro-immigrant attitudes toward security and fiscal concerns are positive (as opposed to first-generation immigrants). Finally, we see no impact of the immigrant share on the attitudes of natives supporting far-left or left political parties, while it is the most negative among respondents affiliated with far-right parties.
Facts, Alternative Facts, and Fact-Checking in Times of Post-Truth Politics -
(with: Sergei Guriev, Emeric Henry, and Ekaterina Zhuravskaya )
[Journal of Public Economics, Vol 182, Feb 2020, 104123.]
Summary
-Download it here -How effective is fact-checking in countervailing “alternative facts,” i.e., misleading statements by politicians? In a randomized online experiment during the 2017 French presidential election campaign, we subjected subgroups of 2480 French voters to alternative facts by the extreme-right candidate, Marine Le Pen, and/or corresponding facts about the European refugee crisis from official sources. We find that: (i) alternative facts are highly persuasive; (ii) fact-checking improves factual knowledge of voters (iii) but it does not affect policy conclusions or support for the candidate; (iv) exposure to facts alone does not decrease support for the candidate, even though voters update their knowledge. We find evidence consistent with the view that at least part of the effect can be explained by rising salience of the immigration issue.
Working Papers
Capital vs. Labor: the Effect of Income Sources on Attitudes Towards the Top 1 Percent
(With Emmanuel Chavez)
Summary
We investigate the effects of providing information about the income of top 1% earners on attitudes toward this group. We study a dimension of the income of the richest individuals that has received little attention in previous literature: the proportion of income earned from capital versus labor sources. We conducted an online survey with 2000 French respondents, who were randomly assigned to one of three groups: (1) quantitative information on income levels and sources of the top 1% (two-thirds of respondents); (2) quantitative and qualitative information on income levels and sources of the top 1% (one-third of respondents); or (3) a control group (one-third of respondents). Our findings reveal that: (i) at the baseline, respondents tend to overestimate the income of the top 1%, have no clear priors on their capital vs. labor shares, and want them to pay a higher income tax rate than the current one; (ii) providing quantitative information about the income sources at the top consistently shifts attitudes toward the rich to the unfavorable spectrum. This shift does not result from experimenter demand effects; (iii) individuals most responsive to our treatments vote for left-wing candidates and have egalitarian notions of justice.
Political influence on homicide reports under civil conflict
Summary
-Download it here-
This study examines the relationship between political ideology and the reliability of homicide data in countries affected by local conflicts. Using a regression discontinuity design approach in the context of the Colombian conflict, it finds strong evidence of political bias and potential manipulation in homicide reporting. Specifically, the number of homicides by rebel troops significantly increases following close-run elections when incumbent mayors share the opposite ideology. No such impact is observed for other groups. These findings suggest either retaliatory actions by rebels or deliberate record alterations for political purposes. This study highlights the politicization and distortions in reporting homicide data during local conflicts, emphasizing the need to consider political influences when analyzing crime statistics in conflictaffected regions.
(With: Ana Leiva, Clara Martínez-Toledano, Álvaro Zúñiga-Cordero)
Summary
This study combines political attitudes surveys to analyze the transformation of the structure of political cleavages in Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru over the last decades. We document that Latin American countries are characterized by personalist leadership (e.g., Fujimori in Peru, Uribe in Colombia) and important historical cleavages (e.g., anti vs. pro-PLN in Costa Rica) that blur class-based voting patterns and have led in some cases to the emergence of competing for pro-poor and ethnic-based competing coalitions (e.g., PRN-PLN in Costa Rica, Fujimori-Humala in Peru) over the last decades. The party systems of Costa Rica, Colombia, and Peru have thus generated volatile political and socio-economic cleavages, while the more institutionalized party systems of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico have been less volatile.
Development and Migration
(With: Karen Macours, Patrick Premand, Renos Vakis)
Policy Research working paper; no. WPS 9492; Impact Evaluation series Washington, D.C. : World Bank Group.
Summary
- Download it here -Parenting interventions have the potential to improve early childhood development. Text messages are considered a promising channel to deliver parenting information at large scale. This paper tests whether sending text messages about parenting practices impacts early childhood development. Households in rural Nicaragua were randomly assigned to receive messages about nutrition, health, stimulation, or the home environment. The intervention led to significant changes in self-reported parenting practices. However, it did not translate into improvements in children's cognitive development. When local opinion leaders were randomly exposed to the same text message intervention, parental investments declined and children's outcomes deteriorated. Since interactions between parents and leaders about child development also decreased, the negative effects may have resulted from a crowding-out of some local leaders.
Ongoing Research
(With: Li Yang -ZEW-)
This research project aims to investigate the effect of informing individuals about the relationship between inflation and social inequality on their preferences for redistributive policies. Additionally, the study seeks to explore the mechanisms of preconceptions of justice and cognitive dissonance that may explain the impact of information exposure on attitudes toward redistribution.