The economics literature has traditionally focused on competition between immigrants and natives in the labour market and in the use of social services as the main reasons for individuals to oppose immigration. In practice, there is no empirical consensus on the effects of immigration on wages, employment and social services (Fasani et al., 2019). The effect of net government expenditures depends on the age and skills distribution of immigrants relative to natives (Storesletten, 2000). Finally, the Transatlantic Trends survey shows that the majority of people in the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands believe that immigration will increase crime in their society, while in reality there is no clear causal relationship between changes in immigration and crime rates (Fasani et al., 2019).
The purpose of this roundtable discussion is to shed light on the disconnect between perceptions and reality around migration and discuss the following:
- What are the most significant public misperceptions in migration and why does this matter?
- Can attitudes and opinions be changed, and if so, how?
- What can we learn from communication experts on how to communicate better with the public and what role the media or public institutions play in this endeavour?
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