• Media Coverage of Immigration and the Polarization of Attitudes.

 American Economic Journal: Applied Economics (CNRS: 1/ HCERES: A). 

with  Sarah Schneider-Strawczynski.

Abstract: This paper investigates the effect of media coverage on immigration attitudes. It combines data on immigration coverage in French television with individual panel data from 2013 to 2017 that records respondents’ preferred television channel and attitudes toward immigration. The analysis focuses on within-individual variations over time, addressing ideological self-selection into channels. We find that increased coverage of immigration polarizes attitudes, with initially moderate individuals becoming more likely to report extremely positive and negative attitudes. This polarization is mainly driven by an increase in the salience of immigration, which reactivates preexisting prejudices, rather than persuasion effects from biased news consumption.

How to cite :   Schneider-Strawczynski, S., and Valette, J. (2024). Media Coverage of Immigration and the Polarization of Attitudes. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, Forthcoming.

• The Usual Suspects. Offenders' Origin, Media Reporting and Natives' Attitudes Towards Immigration.

The Economic Journal (CNRS: 1/ HCERES: A). 

with  Sekou Keita , and Thomas Renault.

Abstract: This paper analyses whether the systematic disclosure of criminals’ origins in the press affects natives’ attitudes towards immigration. It takes advantage of the unilateral change in reporting policy announced by the German newspaper Sächsische Zeitung in July, 2016. Combining individual-level panel data from the German Socio-Economic Panel from 2014 to 2018 with 402,819 crime-related articles in German newspapers and those newspapers’ market shares, we find that systematically mentioning the origins of criminals increases the relative salience of natives’ criminality and reduces natives’ concerns about immigration, breaking the implicit link between immigration and crime.

How to cite :  Keita, S., Renault, T., and Valette, J. (2024). The Usual Suspects. Offenders' Origin, Media Reporting and Natives' Attitudes Towards Immigration. The Economic Journal, 134(657): 322-362.

• Another Brick in the Wall. Immigration and Electoral Preferences: Direct Evidence from State Ballots. 

Review of International Economics (CNRS: 2/ HCERES: A). Online Appendix.

with Olivier Bargain, and Victor Stéphane.

Abstract: Using information on actual ballots rather than survey data, we investigate the impact of immigration on both electoral outcomes and immigrant-related motives underlying political preferences. We take advantage of 94 votes, namely 54 policy propositions and 40 elections for candidates, that took place in Californian general elections between 2010 and 2018. We first analyze how the share of immigrants at the census tract level affects electoral outcomes. We find that a rise in immigration is associated with a decrease in people’s support for the Democratic party and for liberal measures. Using proposition topics, we show that this effect is driven by policies pertaining to redistribution, public good provision, and justice/crime, while other propositions, less directly related to immigration are not impacted. The effect is stronger when immigrants are less assimilated and originate from poor and culturally distant countries.

How to cite :  Bargain, O., Stéphane, V., and Valette, J. (2022) Another Brick in the Wall. Immigration and Electoral Preferences: Direct Evidence from State Ballots. Review of International Economics, 30(5): 1452-1477.

• Birthplace Diversity and Economic Growth: Evidence from the US States in the Post-World War II Period. 

      Journal of Economic Geography (CNRS: 1/ HCERES: A). Online Appendix

with Frédéric Docquier,  Riccardo Turati and Chrysovalantis Vasilakis. 

This paper empirically revisits the impact of birthplace diversity on economic growth. We use panel data on US states over the 1960-2010 period. This rich data set allows us to better deal with endogeneity issues and to conduct a large set of robustness checks. Our results suggest that diversity among college-educated immigrants positively affects economic growth. We provide converging evidence pointing at the existence of skill complementarities between workers trained in different countries. These synergies result in better labor market outcomes for native workers and in higher productivity in the R&D sector. The gains from diversity are maximized when immigrants originate from economically or culturally distant countries (but not both), and when they acquired part of their secondary education abroad and their college education in the US. Overall, a 10% increase in high-skilled diversity raises GDP per capita by about 6%. On the contrary, low-skilled diversity has insignificant effects. 

How to cite :  Docquier, F., Turati, R., Valette, J. and Vasilakis, C. (2020) Birthplace Diversity and Economic Growth: Evidence from the US States in the Post-World War II Period. Journal of Economic Geography,  20(2): 321-354.

• Natives’ Attitudes and Immigrants’ Unemployment Durations. 

Demography (CNRS: 1/ HCERES: A). Online Appendix

with Sekou Keita. 

What are the factors which determine the performance of immigrants in a destination country labor market? Evidence in the literature suggests that discrimination may be a barrier to the economic assimilation of immigrants. However, depending on the country of origin, the level of discrimination an immigrant faces is heterogeneous. This paper investigates how the attitudes of natives affect the labor outcomes of immigrants in Germany. Using individual-level panel data from the German Socio Economic Panel from 1984 to 2014, we use survival analysis methods to model immigrants’ unemployment duration. We find that natives’ lower trust levels towards the citizens of a given country, measured using Eurobarometer surveys, positively influence the unemployment duration of immigrants from this country. We show that this result is not driven by origin-specific unobserved heterogeneity, and that it is robust to different specifications and alternative explanations. Our results highlight the fact that immigrants face different obstacles depending on their origin when it comes to integrating destination country labor markets. 

How to cite :  Keita, S. & Valette, J. (2019). Natives' Attitudes and Immigrants' Unemployment Durations. Demography, 56(3): 1023-1050.

• Do migrants transfer productive knowledge back to their origin country? 

The Journal of Development Studies (CNRS: 2/ HCERES: A). Online Appendix

This paper analyses whether international migrants contribute to increasing technological advances in developing countries by inducing a transfer of productive knowledge from developed countries back to migrants’ home countries. Using the Economic Complexity Index as a proxy for the amount of productive knowledge embedded in each countries and bilateral migrant stocks of 20 OECD destination countries, we show that international migration is a strong channel of technological transmission. Diasporas foster the local adoption of new technologies by connecting high technology countries with low ones, reducing the uncertainty surrounding their profitability. Our empirical results support the hypothesis that technological transfers are more likely to occur out of more technologically advanced destinations and when emigration rates are particularly high. 

How to cite :  Valette, J. (2018). Do Migrants Transfer Productive Knowledge Back to Their Origin Countries? The Journal of Development Studies, 54(9): 1637-1656. 

Abstract: We provide evidence that Hispanic citizens receive significantly longer sentences in the Federal Criminal Justice System when there is an increase in the monthly number of illegal aliens apprehended along the southern border. Apprehensions increase the salience of Hispanic ethnic identity, which is associated with persistent negative stereotypes in the United States. The absence of any effect for Hispanic non-citizens is inconsistent with the alternative explanation that apprehensions could deteriorate judges’ attitude towards all Hispanic defendants, irrespective of their citizenship status. Our estimated effect is only at play for defendants without a heavy previous criminal record, and is larger for defendants whose age, gender, and level of education are close to the typical Hispanic immigrant.