Minority Salience and Political Extremism

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Colussi, Tommaso; Isphording, Ingo E.; Pestel, Nico
• 署名单位: Catholic University of the Sacred Heart; IZA Institute Labor Economics; IZA Institute Labor Economics
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-APPLIED ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7782
• DOI: 10.1257/app.20190703
• 发表日期: 2021
• 页码: 237-271
• 关键词: issue-salience; ethnic diversity; immigration; PSYCHOLOGY; CONFLICT; BEHAVIOR; Ramadan

摘要

We investigate how the salience of an ethnic minority affects the majority group's voting behavior. We use the increased salience of Muslim communities during Ramadan as a natural experiment. Exploiting exogenous variation in the distance of election dates to Ramadan over the 1980-2013 period in Germany, our findings reveal an increased polarization. Vote shares for both right- and left-wing extremist parties increase in municipalities with mosques when an election takes place shortly after Ramadan. We use survey data to provide evidence on mechanisms: Ramadan increases respondents' perceived share of the foreign-born population and emphasizes cultural dissimilarities, ultimately worsening attitudes toward Muslims.