Nativist Policy: the comparative effects of Trumpian politics on migration decisions

Duch, Raymond M.; Laroze, Denise; Reinprecht, Constantin; Robinson, Thomas S.

Abstract

Firms in the USA rely on highly skilled immigrants, particularly in the science and engineering sectors. Yet, the recent politics of immigration marks a substantial change to US immigration policy. We implement a conjoint experiment that isolates the causal effect of nativist, anti-immigrant, pronouncements on where skilled potential-migrants choose to immigrate to. While these policies have a significantly negative effect on the destination choices of Chilean and UK student subjects, they have little effect on the choices of Indian and Chinese student subjects. These results are confirmed through an unobtrusive test of subjects’ general immigration destination preferences. Moreover, there is some evidence that the negative effect of these nativist policies are particularly salient for those who self-identify with the Left.

Citation

Duch, R. M., Laroze, D., Reinprecht, C., & Robinson, T. S. (2022). Nativist Policy: the comparative effects of Trumpian politics on migration decisions. Political Science Research and Methods, 10(1), 171-187. https://doi.org/10.1017/psrm.2020.33

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 29, 2020
• Publication Date: 2022-01
• Deposit Date: Sep 2, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 16, 2020
• Journal: Political Science Research and Methods
• Print ISSN: 2049-8470
• Electronic ISSN: 2049-8489
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 10
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 171-187
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/psrm.2020.33
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1257223