Science
Volume 354, Issue 6309, 2016, Pages 217-222

How economic, humanitarian, and religious concerns shape European attitudes toward asylum seekers (Article)

Bansak K. , Hainmueller J.* , Hangartner D.
  • a Department of Political Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-6044, United States, Immigration Policy Lab., Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-6044, United States, University of Zurich, Zurich, 8050, Switzerland
  • b Department of Political Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-6044, United States, Immigration Policy Lab., Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-6044, United States, University of Zurich, Zurich, 8050, Switzerland, Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-6044, United States
  • c Immigration Policy Lab., Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-6044, United States, University of Zurich, Zurich, 8050, Switzerland, Department of Government, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, WC2A 2AE, United Kingdom

Abstract

What types of asylum seekers are Europeans willing to accept? We conducted a conjoint experiment asking 18,000 eligible voters in 15 European countries to evaluate 180,000 profiles of asylum seekers that randomly varied on nine attributes. Asylum seekers who have higher employability, have more consistent asylum testimonies and severe vulnerabilities, and are Christian rather than Muslim received the greatest public support. These results suggest that public preferences over asylum seekers are shaped by sociotropic evaluations of their potential economic contributions, humanitarian concerns about the deservingness of their claims, and anti-Muslim bias. These preferences are similar across respondents of different ages, education levels, incomes, and political ideologies,as well as across thesurveyed countries.This public consensus on what types of asylum seekers to accept has important implications for theory and policy. © 2016, American Association for the Advancement of Science. All rights reserved.

Author Keywords

[No Keywords available]

Index Keywords

Economic analysis education educational status Humanitarian questionnaire survey refugee policy implementation economics health care policy Islam Europe human Refugees priority journal Christianity religion altruism Surveys and Questionnaires asylum seeker public attitude Humans income attitude welfare questionnaire vulnerability Article employment status migration politics public opinion Emigration and Immigration employment attitude to health public health health survey
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84988583493&doi=10.1126%2fscience.aag2147&partnerID=40&md5=98f718b8e8f918b83711e74897c9ef86
DOI: 10.1126/science.aag2147
ISSN: 00368075
Cited by: 74
Original Language: English