Refugee reception, extreme-right voting, and compositional amenities: Evidence from Italian municipalities
利用意大利城市数据，研究发现地方政府管理的难民接收政策（SPRAR）使开设难民中心的城市极右翼政党得票率比未开设城市低约7个百分点，其机制是通过改善当地学校等构成性便利设施和促进人口增长来减少反移民偏见。
We use data from Italy to study the political and social impact of a refugee reception policy (SPRAR) directly managed by local governments, whose features recall the conditions of the contact theory (Allport, 1954). Instrumental variables estimates indicate that municipalities that opened a refugee center between the 2013 and 2018 national elections experienced a change in the vote shares of extreme-right parties that is approximately 7 percentage points lower compared to municipalities that did not open a refugee center. We document that the positive impact of SPRARs on “compositional amenities” (i.e., local schools) and population growth allows explaining the negative impact on anti-immigrant prejudice. Finally, we provide evidence of spillovers in prejudice reduction in neighboring municipalities without a SPRAR.