Abstract
We study whether a better knowledge of the functioning of pay-as-you-go (PAYG) pension systems and recent demographic trends affects natives’ attitudes toward immigration. In two online experiments conducted in Italy and Spain, we randomly treated participants with a video explaining how, in PAYG systems, the payment of current pensions depends on the contributions paid by current workers. The video also informs participants about population aging trends in their countries. The treatment increases knowledge of PAYG systems and future demographic trends for all participants. However, it improves attitudes toward migrants only for treated participants who do not support populist and anti-immigrant parties.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | lbad036 |
| Number of pages | 16 |
| Journal | Journal of Economic Geography |
| Volume | Advance articles |
| Early online date | 5 Jan 2024 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 5 Jan 2024 |
Keywords
- Information provision
- Experiment
- Immigration
- Pay-as-you-go pension systems
- Population aging
- Populism
Access to Document
- Boeri_2024_JEG_Pay-as-they-get-in_CCBY
Copyright © The Author (2024). Published by Oxford University Press. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.