While anecdotal evidence suggests that interest groups play a key role in shaping immigration, there is no systematic … the total number of immigrants and H1B visas with data on lobbying expenditures associated with immigration. We find … robust evidence that both pro- and anti-immigration interest groups play a statistically significant and economically …

This paper studies why illegal immigration is widespread. We develop a political agency model in which a politician … decides on an immigration target and its enforcement, facing uncertainty on the supply of migrants. Illegal immigration can … majority of voters have different preferences over immigration. Empirical evidence provides strong support for our predictions …

redistributive welfare system might adjust as a result of immigration. Under the first scenario, immigration has a larger impact on …-market determinants of immigration attitudes. In countries where natives are on average more skilled than immigrants, individual income is … negatively correlated with pro-immigration preferences, while individual skill is positively correlated with them. These …

I analyze individual attitudes towards trade and immigration in comparative terms. I find that individuals are on … average more pro-trade than pro-immigration across several countries. I identify a key source of this difference: the cleavage … in trade preferences, absent in immigration attitudes, between individuals working in traded as opposed to non …

toward immigrants. I find that individuals with higher levels of skill are more likely to be pro-immigration in high per … correlated with immigration attitudes but they do not seem to alter significantly the results on the economic explanations. …

This paper explores one potentially important channel through which immigration may drive support for extreme right …

We analyze the impact of immigration on voting. Using Italian municipality data and IV estimation strategy, we find … that immigration generates a sizable causal increase in votes for the centre-right coalition, which has a political … platform less favorable to immigrants. Additional findings are: big cities behave differently, with no impact of immigration on …