The next RITM Management Seminar will take place on Friday 9 June, from 12:15 to 13:15. Gregory Verdugo (Evry) will present Do Elections Affect Immigration? Evidence from French Municipalities (joint with Benoît Schmutz).

Abstract:
Using thirty years of municipal elections in France, we show that election results affect the share of immigrants across municipalities. In municipalities where a left- instead of right-wing mayor has been elected, the share of non-European immigrants in the population grows faster by 1.5 p.p. within six years after the elections, and by 3 p.p. within twelve years. To a large extent, these effects reflect partisan differences in public housing constructions and changes in composition of the population within existing public housing units. We find no evidence that the adoption of partisan public housing policies bears an electoral cost. In contrast, they appear to be associated with greater incumbency advantage in the longer run, in line with a model of electoral reshaping.