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Department of Economics Seminar with Professor Steven Stillman, Free University of Bolzano Us yesterday, them today: Leveraging emigration history to promote pro-immigrant attitudes

Professor Stillman's research focuses on empirical labour economics, specialising in the behaviour of individuals and households, and the interplay between government policy and human behavior. He has done extensive work examining the impact of migration on immigrants and their families exploiting a lottery used to allocate migrant quota slots. In recent work, he has also examined voting behaviour along a number of dimensions and how individuals have responded to changes in a number of policies, including minimum wages, the drinking age and doctor's fees.

Abstract: In recent years, immigration has become an increasingly polarized political issue across European countries and attitudes toward immigrants have worsened. Italy in particular has witnessed a notable increase in support for far-right parties. We use a randomized design to examine whether it is possible encourage more inclusionary attitudes through the use of perspective taking. In a representative online survey, some participants are given a very simple priming about their family history of emigration. Individuals who receive this treatment are more likely to say that immigrants make Italy a better place to live. Treatment effects are strongest for individuals who report themselves as being right-wing in their political positions and those with close family who emigrated in the past.