Political Economy Field Seminar: Massimo Morelli

Abstract

The paper shows that polities using plurality rule to elect their policymakers adopt more restrictive immigration policies than those using dual-ballot systems. Plurality rule provides stronger incentives for right-wing, anti-immigrant parties to run alone, as opposed to joining a coalition with other right-wing parties that offer a less restrictive immigration policy. We prove the result theoretically and empirically. Our theoretical results hold with sincere and strategic voters and can be extended to the comparison between plurality rule and proportional representation. In the empirical analysis, we combine municipal-level data on refugee reception and mayoral elections to establish causality via regression discontinuity design.