Pandemic distress and anti-immigration sentiments

Abstract

We investigate the causal nexus between pandemic distress and anti-immigration sentiments. We exploit the disruption brought about by the Covid-19 outbreak to randomly provide survey respondents with information on the economic or health consequences of the pandemic. Overall, we find that pessimistic information about the economic outlook reinforces overall adversity to immigration and the wish to exclude immigrants from access to healthcare. This effect is less pronounced in areas with larger immigrant populations. Our theoretical model pins down two possible mechanisms explaining these results: a zero-sum game to split scarce public resources between residents and immigrants on the one hand, and on the other, fear of contagion.