We analyse whether individuals blame migrants for labour market risks stemming from technological change and trade. Recent labour economics studies indicate significant substitution of local labour by machines or by moving production in particular to China. We argue that these negative labour market effects can be misattributed to migrants. Migration lends itself for this, as it is a highly salient political issue that is perceived to entail labour market competition in particular for blue-collar natives. We provide causal evidence for the misattribution of labour market effects of technological change and trade on attitudes towards migration. Empirically, we rely on European survey data, exploiting variation across occupations, industries, and ethnicity of migrants across local labour markets over time.
Description
Due to the adverse weather conditions it has been decided to cancel todays Researcher Seminar that was to be given at 3pm by Stefan Thewissen, an INET Oxford EEG team alumni who was to be travelling from London. We will aim to reschedule this talk for the Trinity Term series.
Joint work with Andrea Geraci & Caspar Kaiser