The influence of attitudes toward immigrants on international migration

We investigate whether anti-immigrant attitudes reduce migrant inflows in OECD countries. Using comprehensive data on international migration and natives’ attitudes, we find that natives’ hostility, when captured with natives’ propensity to discriminate against immigrants on the labor market, reduces immigration. This effect persists after we control for changes in immigration policies and is stronger for immigrants from OECD countries. Further we show that knowledge of the destination country’s language reinforces the effect. Our results raise a challenge for policy makers in times when structural demand for foreign workers is high.