24 EconPol 2019 April WORKING PAPER Vol. 3 Immigration and electoral support for the far-left and the far-right Anthony Edo, Yvonne Giesing, Jonathan Öztunc, Panu Poutvaara headed by EconPol WORKING PAPER A publication of EconPol Europe European Network of Economic and Fiscal Policy Research Publisher and distributor: ifo Institute Poschingerstr. 5, 81679 Munich, Germany Telephone +49 89 9224-0, Telefax +49 89 9224-1462, Email
[email protected] Editors: Mathias Dolls, Clemens Fuest Reproduction permitted only if source is stated and copy is sent to the ifo Institute. EconPol Europe: www.econpol.eu Immigration and Electoral Support for the Far-Left and the Far-RightI Forthcoming: European Economic Review Anthony Edoa, Yvonne Giesingb,c,d, Jonathan Öztuncc, Panu Poutvaarab,c,d,e,f,∗ aCEPII, 20 avenue de Ségur, TSA 10726, 75334 Paris, France bifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, Poschingerstr. 5, 81679 Munich, Germany cLMU Munich, Germany dCESifo, Munich, Germany eCReAM, London, UK fIZA, Bonn, Germany Abstract Immigration is one of the most divisive political issues in the United States, the United Kingdom, France and several other Western countries. We estimate the impact of immigration on voting for far-left and far-right candidates in France, using panel data on presidential elections from 1988 to 2017. To derive causal estimates, we instrument more recent immigration flows by settlement patterns in 1968. We find that immigration increases support for far-right candidates. This is driven by low-educated immigrants from non-Western countries. We also find that immigration has a weak negative effect on support for far-left candidates, which could be explained by a reduced support for redistribution.