Nicholas Fraser (University of Toronto) & John W. Cheng (Tsuda University), “The New Consensus on Immigration?: Identifying the Racial Undertones of Immigrant Selection Outside the Western Context”

U.S. EDT: July 9 (Thu), 8 – 9 pm

JST: July 10 (Fri), 9 – 10 am

NOTE: Registration required! LINK

[Paper]

Presenter: Nicholas Fraser (University of Toronto).

Abstract: To what extent do natives oppose admitting ethnically or culturally different immigrants? Several experimental studies show that natives in developed countries prefer high-skilled immigrants. This skills premium argument has been supported by studies that focus on the US as well as those that explore European and Asian countries. However, this emerging consensus has been challenged by recent studies which demonstrate that natives in several western countries prefer to admit immigrants from developed white majority sending countries. This raises the question: is the implicit ethnocultural bias within the preference for high-skilled migrants a uniquely western phenomenon? We explore this question by test-ing a modified version of Hainmueller and Hopkins’ 2015 experiment using a sample from an ethnically homogenous country where immigration is far less politicized than it is in the US and west European countries, Japan. Our study shows that Japanese conditionally apply skill requirements and suggests that the implicit ethnocultural bias that underlies the preference for high-skilled migrants is a broader trend and not unique to western countries.

Discussants: Yusaku Horiuchi (Dartmouth), Rieko Kage (University of Tokyo), Charles Crabtree (Dartmouth), Hilary Holbrow (Harvard).

Chair: Amy Catalinac (NYU).