Pay-as-they-get-in: attitudes towards migrants and pension systems

Tito Boeri; Matteo Gamalerio; Massimo Morelli; Margherita Negri

doi:10.1093/jeg/lbad036

Pay-as-they-get-in: attitudes towards migrants and pension systems

Tito Boeri, Matteo Gamalerio, Massimo Morelli, Margherita Negri^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Economics (Business School)

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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
Pages (from-to)	63–78
Number of pages	16
Journal	Journal of Economic Geography
Volume	24
Issue number	1
Early online date	5 Jan 2024
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lbad036
Publication status	Published - Jan 2024

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities

Keywords

Information provision
Experiment
Immigration
Pay-as-you-go pension systems
Population aging
Populism

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10.1093/jeg/lbad036Licence: CC BY

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.
Final published version, 473 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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abstract = "We study whether a better knowledge of the functioning of pay-as-you-go (PAYG) pension systems and recent demographic trends affects natives{\textquoteright} 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.",

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author = "Tito Boeri and Matteo Gamalerio and Massimo Morelli and Margherita Negri",

note = "This research has received funding from the following projects: FARE “LEGISCOM Complexity, Bureaucratic Efficiency: Methodological Advances” (CUP J42F17000270001); RTI2018-097271-B-I00 (Ministerio de Educacion y Ciencia).",

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AU - Negri, Margherita

N1 - This research has received funding from the following projects: FARE “LEGISCOM Complexity, Bureaucratic Efficiency: Methodological Advances” (CUP J42F17000270001); RTI2018-097271-B-I00 (Ministerio de Educacion y Ciencia).

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Pay-as-they-get-in: attitudes towards migrants and pension systems

Abstract

UN SDGs

Keywords

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