AMERICAN & COMPARATIVE POLITICAL BEHAVIOR WORKSHOP
Abstract: This study examines the relationship between crimes committed by immigrants and xenophobic hate crimes at the local level. We argue that localized crime events can lead to xenophobic responses when natives retribute against uninvolved out-group members. We examine such intergroup conflict dynamics between immigrants and natives in Germany, a country that has experienced a sharp increase in the foreign-born population in recent years. Our empirical analysis leverages fine-grained geo-coded data on more than 9,400 hate crimes and 60,000 immigrant crime events between 2015 and 2019. Using a regression discontinuity in time design (RDiT), we show that the daily probability of hate crimes increases by more than 100% in the immediate aftermath of an immigrant crime event in a local community. Our results speak to growing concerns about xenophobic violence in Western democracies.
Markus Wagner is a Professor in the Department of Government at the University of Vienna. His research focuses on the impact of issues, ideologies and group relations on voter behaviour and party competition, largely in Western Europe. His work has been published in journals such as the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, Comparative Political Studies and the British Journal of Political Science. He is currently working on projects relating to group relations and group attitudes in Western Europe as well as the electoral dynamics of support for Social Democracy.
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The series is sponsored by the ISPS Center for the Study of American Politics and The Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale with support from the Edward J. and Dorothy Clarke Kempf Fund.