Negativity bias: the impact of framing of immigration on...
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Negativity bias: the impact of framing of immigration on welfare state support in Germany, Sweden and the UK
Article (Accepted Version)
http://sro.sussex.ac.uk
Avdagic, Sabina and Savage, Lee (2019) Negativity bias: the impact of framing of immigration on welfare state support in Germany, Sweden and the UK. British Journal of Political Science. pp. 1-22. ISSN 0007-1234
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NegativityBias:TheImpactofFramingofImmigrationonWelfareState
SupportinGermany,SwedenandtheUK
SabinaAvdagic(UniversityofSussex)
&
LeeSavage(King’sCollegeLondon)
ForthcominginBritishJournalofPoliticalScience
(Accepted16/06/2019)
Abstract
Howdoestheframingofimmigrationinfluencesupportforthewelfarestate?Drawingon
researchfrompsychology,specificallythenotionofnegativitybiasandthesequencingof
negativeandpositiveinformation,wearguethatnegativeimmigrationframesundermine
welfaresupport,whilepositiveframeshavelittleornoeffect.Individualstakelessnoticeof
positiveframesandtheeffectofsuchframesisfurtherunderminedbytheprevious
exposuretonegativeframes,whichtendtosticklongerinpeople’sminds.Ourfindings,
basedonsurveyexperimentsonover9,000individualsinGermany,SwedenandtheUK,
showastrongandpervasiveeffectofnegativeframingofimmigrationonwelfaresupport.
Wealsofindsomeevidencethatthiseffectisfurtheramplifiedforpeoplewhoholdanti-
immigrantandanti-welfareattitudesorfeeleconomicallyinsecure.Theeffectofpositive
framingisconsiderablyweakeranddoesnotstrengthenwelfaresupportinanyofour
countries.
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Introduction
InrecentyearsimmigrationhasbecomeasalientissueinpublicdebatesinEurope.Inno
smallpartthisisrelatedtoasubstantialincreaseinimmigrationthatmostaffluent
Europeancountrieshaveexperiencedsince1990.Inmostofthesecountries,the
proportionofthepopulationthatisforeign-bornhasincreasedconsiderablyduringthis
period,whiletherecentrefugeecrisishasfurtheraddedtothesepressures.Thisrising
immigrationhashadprofoundeffectsonpoliticsinEurope.Thediscourseoffar-right
partieshasincreasinglyemphasizedthenegativeconsequencesofimmigrationforthe
economyandsociety(AfonsoandRennwald,2018;StockemerandBarisone,2017).Not
onlyhasthistrendbeenlinkedtotheelectoralsuccessofextremerightparties(Ivarsflaten
2008),butithasalsoreconfiguredmainstreampoliticsaspartieshavetriedtorespondto
growingconcernsaboutimmigration(Abou-Chadi2016;Abou-ChadiandKrause2018).
Oneofthoseconcerns,whichhasfiguredprominentlyinthemediaandpolitical
discourse,isthepotentialconsequencesofimmigrationforthewelfarestate.Political
actorsandthemediahavefocusedheavilyonthefiscaleffectsofimmigration,namelythe
questionofthenetimpactofimmigrationonpublicfinances.Consequently,citizenshave
beenexposedtoconflictingmessageswithsomesourcesclaimingthatimmigrantsarea
drainonpublicfinances,whileothersarguingthatimmigrants’netcontributionispositive.
Whataretheconsequencesofthisdebateforpublicopiniononthewelfarestate?Doesthe
exposuretonegativeframesofimmigrationunderminesupportforthewelfarestate,and
dopositiveframeshavetheoppositeeffect?
Existingliteratureonthelinkbetweenimmigrationandthewelfarestatedoesnot
offeradirectanswertothisquestionbecauseitfocusespredominantlyontheeffectsofthe
scaleofimmigration(e.g.Alesina&Glaeser,2004;BradyandFinningan,2014;Finseraas,
2008),ratherthanoftheframingofitscostsandbenefits.Thegeneralliteratureonframing
ishelpfulinsofarasittellsusthatpeopletendtorespondtoframes(e.g.Chong&
Druckman,2007b;Haynesetal,2016),butitsfocusonissueframesdoesnotofferclear
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insightsintothequestionofhowclearlyvalencedframes(i.e.outliningpositiveornegative
aspects)influencepublicopinion.Thispaperaimstocontributetobothoftheseliteratures
byfocussingonthemicrofoundationsoftherelationshipbetweenimmigrationandthe
welfarestate.Informationonimmigrationishardlyeverpresentedinfullyneutralterms
andeveninformationonthestockorflowsofimmigrantsisoftencommunicatedthrough
partisanlenses.Ifwewanttounderstandhowimmigrationaffectswelfaresupport,we
needtoturnourattentiontohowcitizensprocessthisinformationandhowinturnthis
affectstheirwelfarepolicypreferences.
Tothisend,wedrawontheliteraturefrompsychology,andspecificallyresearchon
negativitybias(Kahnemann&Tversky,1979;RozinandRoyzman,2001)andthe
sequencingofnegativeandpositiveinformation(Ledgerwood&Boydstun,2014;Boydstun
etal,2017;Sparks&Ledgerwood,2017).Inlinewiththisliterature,wehypothesizethat
negativeframesregardingtheimpactofimmigrationunderminewelfaresupport,while
positiveframeshavelittleornoeffect.Individualstakelessnoticeofpositiveframesand
theeffectofsuchframescanbefurtherunderminedbypreviousexposuretonegative
frames,whichtendtosticklongerinpeople’sminds.
Wetestthishypothesisusingsurveyexperimentsonover9,000individualsin
Germany,SwedenandtheUK.Wefocusonthesecountriesfortworeasons.First,ineach
case,asubstantialproportionofthepopulationisforeign-born(12-15%)andthecostsand
benefitsofimmigrationhavebeenthesubjectofheatedpoliticaldebatesinrecenttimes.In
theUK,immigrationwasakeyissueindebatesleadinguptotheEUReferendumandthe
subsequentnegotiationsonthetermsofBrexit.InGermanyandSwedenconcernsabout
immigrationhavebeenamplifiedbythe2015refugeecrisis.ThedecisionoftheGerman
andSwedishgovernmentstoacceptalargenumberofrefugeeshasencountered
considerableoppositionathomeandcontributedtothegrowingsuccessoffar-right
partiesthathavecampaignedonananti-immigrantplatform.Second,thesecountries
depictthethreeworldsofwelfarecapitalism(Esping-Andersen,1990).Theinstitutional
structureofthewelfareregimesmayinfluencehowthepublicperceivesthelinkbetween
immigrationandwelfarespending.Thus,althoughourtheoreticalargumentsuggeststhat
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thenegativeframingofimmigrationwillreducesupportforhigherspendingeverywhere,it
ispossiblethatthelevelofsupportwillvaryacrossthewelfareregimes.Theuniversal
welfareregimeinSwedenallowsimmigrantscomparativelyeasyaccesstobenefits.This
characteristicmaygenerateperceptionsthatimmigrantsbenefitdisproportionatelyfrom
thewelfarestateandthusgeneratehigherlevelsofoppositiontogreaterspending(c.f.
FietkauandHansen,2018;Hjorth,2016)thanintheothertwocountries.Thecriteriafor
accessingbenefitsforimmigrantsarestricterinGermanyandtheUK.Germany’s
insurance-basedregimeisalsolessgeneroustothosewhodidnotpayintothesystem,
whiletheUK’sliberalregimeislessgenerousoverall.
Ouranalysisshowsastrongeffectofthenegativeframingofimmigrationon
supportforwelfarespendinginallthreecountries.Althoughthereissomeevidencethat
thiseffectisamplifiedforpeoplewhoholdanti-immigrantandanti-welfareattitudesor
feelinsecureabouttheirfinancialprospects,onthewholenegativeframingapplies
generallyacrossthepopulation.Asexpected,theeffectofpositiveframingissignificantly
weakeranddoesnotstrengthensupportinanyofourcountries.Wealsofinddifferences
inthesizeoftheeffectacrosscountriesthatareinlinewithourreasoningaboutthe
influenceofregimetypes.
ThesefindingshaveclearimplicationsforthepoliticsofwelfarereformsinEurope.
Theysuggestthat,aslongasimmigrationremainsoneofthekeyissuesinnationalpolitics,
itmightbemucheasiertofostercoalitionsthatsupportwelfarestateretrenchmentthan
coalitionsthatsupportfurtherexpansionofthewelfarestate.
1.Immigrationandsupportforwelfarespending
SincethepublicationofAlesinaandGlaeser’sseminalbook(2004),therehasbeen
increasedacademicinterestintherelationshipbetweenimmigrationandthewelfarestate.
AlesinaandGlaeserarguedthatracialandethnicheterogeneityintheUSundermines
supportforredistributionandisthemainreasonwhytheUSdoesnothaveagenerous
welfarestate.Minorities,theymaintain,areseenasbenefitingdisproportionatelyfromthe
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welfarestateandthusitisdifficulttobuildsolidarityandbroad-basedsupportfor
redistribution.
Althoughthisargumentaboutthetradeoffbetweenheterogeneityand
redistributionhasreceivedstrongempiricalsupportintheUS,thefindingsforEuropehave
beenlessclear.Whilesomestudiesfindthatraceorethnicitymatterforwelfaresupport
(Harelletal,2016),otherssuggestamediatingimpactofdifferentpoliticalandeconomic
institutions(Larsen,2011;MauandBurkhardt,2009).Commonly,theliteratureexamines
howthestockorflowofimmigrantpopulationsaffectsaggregatesupportforthewelfare
state.Thefindingsarefarfromconsistent.Someanalysesfindevidenceofnegativeeffects
ofincreasedimmigrationonsupportforredistribution(Dahlbergetal,2012;Eger,2010,
Schmidt-CatranandSpies,2016;Seniketal,2008).Othersfindsomesupportforthe
compensationhypothesis,whichpositsthathigherimmigrationprovokesfeelingsof
economicinsecuritywhichincreasessupportforwelfarespending(BradyandFinningan,
2014;Burgoonetal,2012;Finseraas,2008).
Acommondenominatorofthesestudiesistheirrelianceoncross-sectionaldata,
whichlargelyleavesunspecifiedthecausalmechanismsbehindindividualattitude
formation.Morerecentscholarshiphastriedtoaddressthiscriticismbyturningtosurvey
experiments.Thesestudiesundertakeamoreexplicittestoftheeffectofinformationabout
immigrationonindividualattitudesaboutthewelfarestate(Alesinaetal,2018;Naumann
andStoetzer,2017,Runst,2017).However,inmostcasesthefocusisstillontheeffectof
thesizeoftheimmigrantpopulationonwelfarestatesupport.1Respondentsaretypically
askedtoevaluatethenumberofimmigrantsorprimedwiththecorrectnumberof
immigrants,andthenaskedabouttheirsupportforthevariousaspectsofthewelfarestate.
Onthewhole,theseexperimentalstudiesfindnodirectuniformeffectofimmigrationon
supportforredistribution,althoughtheysuggestthattheeffectmayvaryaccordingto
1Alesinaetal(2018)alsoexaminetheeffectofimmigrants’originandworkethic.Similarly,Ford(2016)examineshowattitudestowardsthelevelofbenefitsareaffectedbyinformationaboutrecipients’ethnicandreligiousbackground.
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income,educationortheexposuretolabourmarketrisks(NaumannandStoetzer,2017;
Runst,2017).
Onepotentialreasonforwhythesestudiesfindnostrongeffectofimmigrationis
thatrespondentsmaynotseeanimmediatelinkbetweenimmigrationandredistribution.
Eveniftheyaremadeawareofthenumberofimmigrantsintheircountry,theymay
perceivethatnumberdifferentlyormaynotfindthatinformationimmediatelyrelevant
whenansweringthequestionabouttheirsupportforredistribution.Wearguethatamore
appropriateassessmentoftheeffectsofimmigrationonwelfarestatesupportisto
confrontrespondentswithmoredirectinformationabouttheeconomiccostsandbenefits
ofimmigration.Anexplicitmentionofimmigrants’fiscalimpactismorelikelytotrigger
considerationsaboutthewelfarestate,whetherthatbethesustainabilityofthewelfare
state(socio-tropicconcerns)orhighertaxesandcompetitionforwelfareservices(self-
interest).Politicalactorsandthemediaareawarethatthistypeofinformationelicits
strongresponsesanduseitfrequentlywhenaddressingthepublic.Indeed,asAlesinaand
Glaeser(2004)haveshowninthecaseoftheUS,informationaboutthecostsofdifferent
ethnicgroupshasbeenusedinstrumentallybyconservativepoliticiansandmediaoutlets
toactivatenatives’racialprejudices,undermineredistributivepoliciesandmobilize
politicalsupport.2FarrightpartiesinEuropehavereliedonasimilarstrategyandtriedto
portrayimmigrantsasexploitingthewelfaresystem.
Informationaboutthecosts/benefitsofimmigrationismorelikelytobe
consequentialthaninformationaboutthenumberofimmigrantsnotonlybecauseitmakes
thelinkbetweenimmigrationandredistributionmoretransparent,butalsobecauseitis
oftenpresentedthroughvalencedframes.Suchframesindicateaclearstandpointand
emphasizeeithernegativeorpositiveaspectsofanissue.Weknowfromresearchin
psychologyandcommunicationstudiesthatvalencedframestendtobemoreeffectivein
2Itisimportanttorecognizethatsomeoftheseprejudicesexistpriortosuchinformation.Previousresearchshowsthatsomeindividualsareparticularlybiasedtowardsminoritiesandthat,inadditiontoeconomicconcerns(Malhotraetal,2013;Schmidt-CatranandSpies,2016),ethnocentrism(Harelletal,2016)andculturalconcerns(HainmuellerandHiscox,2007;SidesandCitrin,2007;Valentinoetal,2017)shapeattitudestowardsimmigrants.
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influencingattitudesthanneutralframesbecausetheypresentinformationinamore
accessibleway(Baumeisteretal,2001;ChongandDruckman,2007).Politicalactorsand
themediaregularlyrelyonvalencedframeswhendiscussingtheeconomiceffectsof
immigration.Dependingonthesourceandthemethodologyused,immigrationhasbeen
portrayedaseitherbeingadrainonthebudgetandpublicservicesorhavingapositivenet
fiscalcontribution.Yet,weknowlittleabouttheeffectsofsuchframesoncitizens’
attitudes.Doesinformationabouttheeconomicconsequencesofimmigrationaffect
attitudestowardsredistributionandthewelfarestate?Anddoesvalenceoftheframes
matter?Thenextsectionoutlinesourtheoreticalreasoningandthehypotheseswetest
throughthesurveyexperiment.
2.Framingeffectsandnegativitybias
Researchonpublicopinionhasshownthathowpoliticalactorsandthemediaframetheir
communicationisconsequentialforcitizens’attitudes.Weknowthatcitizens’perceptions
areaffectedbythewayinwhichthemediadescribesanissue,policyorcandidate(Chong&
Druckman,2007b;Gross,2008).Forexample,ahategrouprallyisperceivedmore
favourablyifitisframedintermsoffreespeechratherthanasathreattopublicsafety
(Nelsonetal,1997a).Attitudestowardsgovernmentspendingforthepoordependonhow
consequencesofsuchpoliciesarerepresented(SnidermanandTheriault,2004),while
supportforaggregategovernmentspendingdependsonwhethersupportisframedin
generalorspecificterms(Jacoby,2000).
Differentmechanismshavebeenidentifiedtoexplaintheeffectofframingonpublic
opinion.Theinformationinaframemayinducelearningandsubsequentlychangean
individual’sopiniononpolicy.Alternatively,aframemayemphasizecertainconsiderations
ofanissueorpolicy,thusincreasingtheirweightandmakingthemmorerelevant.Finally,
themediaandpoliticalactorsmayalsoprimeanissuetobringassociatedbeliefstothe
forefrontofconsideration(Haynesetal,2016).
Whilethisresearchhasdemonstratedthatframeshaveapowerfuleffectonpublic
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opinion,thefocushasbeenpredominantlyonissueframes.Suchframestypicallyinclude
differentcontentandthusmakeitdifficulttoseparatetheeffectsofthatcontentfromthe
effectsofvalencealone(positivevsnegative)(Boydstunetal,2017).Yet,incompetitive
democraciescitizensareoftenexposedtovalencedframesthatdonotnecessarily
emphasizedifferentaspectsofanissue,butsimplycontainconflictinginformationthat
stresseitherpositiveornegativeconsequences.
Informationonthefiscalimpactofimmigrationisonesuchcase.Forexample,inthe
UKcitizenshavebeenexposedtoconflictingmessagesfromdifferentmediaoutlets.While
theGuardiancitedastudywhicharguesthatimmigrantscontributedGBP20billionmore
intaxesthantheyreceivedinwelfarepaymentsovertenyears(4November2014),the
DailyMailreferredtoastudythatclaimsthattheannualnetcostofimmigrantsisGBP17
billion(17May2016).Similarly,inGermanysomeoutletshaveemphasizedthateach
foreignercontributesEUR3,300moreintaxesandpremiumsthantheygetintermsof
statesupport(SueddeutscheZeitung,27November2014),whileothershavereportedthat
onaverageeachforeignerrepresentsanetcostofEUR1,800(Bild,1February2015).3
Howdocitizensrespondtosuchvalencedframes?Drawingonresearchfrom
psychologyandbehaviouralscience,andinparticularthenotionofnegativitybias,we
arguethattheeffectsofsuchvalencedframesareassymetricandthatnegativeframeshave
astrongerimpactoncitizens’attitudesthanpositiveframes.Psychologistshaveshownthat
undermanyconditions,humanshaveaninnatepredispositiontoattendtovalenceandto
givegreaterweighttonegativethanpositiveinformation(Baumeisteretal.2001;Rozin
andRoyzman,2001).SinceKahnemanandTversky’s(1979,1981)seminalworkon
prospecttheory,whichsuggeststhatnegativeframesaremorepowerfulthanpositive
framesinshapingpeople’sjudgements,avastmultidisciplinaryliteraturehas
demonstratedthisprincipleinarangeofdomains.Forexample,publicperceptionsofthe
economyhavebeenshowntobeaffectedmorestronglybynegativethanpositiveeconomic
newscoverage(Soroka,2006).Jobplacementprogrammesareevaluatedmorepositively
3Thedifferencesinestimatesareduetodifferentassumptionsusedincalculations,butthisisrarelydiscussedsufficientlyincommunicationsaimedatthegeneralpublic.
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whentheyarediscussedintermsoftheirsuccessrateratherthantheirfailurerate(Davis
andBobko,1986).Negativeinformationhasbeenalsoshowntohaveagreaterrolewith
respecttoevaluationofU.S.presidentialcandidatesandpoliticalpartiesaswellasvoter
turnout(Holbrooketal,2001).Similarly,negativepoliticaladvertisinghasastrongereffect
thanpositiveadvertisingandpeopletendtorememberitlonger(Johnson-Carteeand
Copland,1991).
Thereareseveralexplanationsforthisevidentpresenceofnegativitybias.Some
theoriespositthatnegativitybiasisabuilt-inpredispositionoraninherentcharacteristic
inthecentralnervoussystem.Thedesireforsurvivalimpliesthathumansmaybe
geneticallypredisposedtopaymoreattentiontonegativeevents.Inthislineofreasoning,
someaccountssuggestthatnegativitybiasoperatesautomaticallyatanearly(evaluative-
categorization)stageofreasoning(Itoetal.1998).Othersarguethatnegativeinformation
ismorepotentbecauseofthemuchlowerfrequencyofnegativethanpositiveevents
(Lewicketal,1992).Yetothersemphasizethecontagioneffectandarguethatnegative
eventsandinformation“mayinherentlybemorecontagious,generalizemoreto
neighboringdomains,andbemoreresistanttoelimination”(RozinandRoyzman,2001:
315).Thedifferentpossiblereasonsnotwithstanding,extensiveempiricalstudieshave
demonstratedthedominanceofnegativitybiasandthefactthatnegativeinformationis
moresalientandmorememorable.Wethereforeexpectthat:
H1:Theeffectsofthenegativeframingofimmigrationwillbemorepowerfulthan
theeffectsofthepositiveframingandthushaveagreaterimpactonwelfare
attitudes.
Morespecifically,weexpectthat:
H2a:Respondentsexposedtothenegativeframingofimmigrationshow
significantlylesssupportforwelfarespendingthanthoseinthecontrolgroup,i.e.
thosenotexposedtoanyinformationaboutimmigration.
Peoplewhoreceiveinformationaboutthefiscalcostsofimmigrationshouldbe
morelikelytoperceiveimmigrantsasbeingthemainbeneficiariesofthewelfaresystem.
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Thisshouldleadtoreducedaggregatesupportforwelfarespendingeitherbecauseof
reducedsolidaritytowardstheoutgrouporbecauseofself-interestasthenetfiscalburden
ofimmigrationmaybeassociatedwithpotentiallyhighertaxes.
Ifnegativeinformationaboutimmigrationgenerateslowersupportforwelfare
spendingrelativetothecontrolgroup,shouldweexpectareverseeffectofpositive
information?Tworeasonsleadustobelievethatthisisunlikelytobethecaseandthatthe
effectsofpositiveinformationshouldbenegligible.Thefirstisassociatedwiththe
literatureonnegativitybias,whichsuggeststhatpositiveframesareweaker,less
memorable,andthuslesslikelytoshapeattitudes.Thesecondisrelatedtothemorerecent
literatureinpsychologythatexaminestheeffectsofthesequencingofpositiveand
negativemessages.Thisliteratureshowsthatnegativeframestendtobestickierthan
positiveframes.Theylodgeinpeople’smindforlonger,soreframingfromnegativeto
positiveismoredifficultthantheotherwayaround(Ledgerwood&Boydstun,2014;
Boydstunetal,2017;Sparks&Ledgerwood,2017).Becauseimmigrationissuchasalient
topicinadvancedcountries,ourrespondentsarelikelytoalreadyhaveencounteredsome
messagesaboutthefiscalimpactofimmigration(AllenandBlinder,2013).Ifnegative
informationisindeedmorememorableandstickierthanpositiveinformation,then
respondentswhowerepreviouslyexposedprimarilytomessagesthatemphasizethe
negativefiscalimpactofimmigrationmayfinditmoredifficulttobelievesubsequent
informationthatimmigrantscontributemoretothewelfaresystemthantheytakeout.
Correspondingly,wehypothesizethat:
H2b:Respondentsexposedtothepositiveframingofimmigrationdonotshowa
significantlystrongersupportforwelfarespendingthanthecontrolgroup.
Itisimportanttonoteherethatourunderstandingoftheframingeffectisnotthe
sameaspersuasionviabeliefchange.AsNelsonetal(1997b)show,althoughthetwo
conceptsarerelated,theydifferboththeoreticallyandempirically.Persuasionviabelief
changeisevidentwhenrespondentsbelievetheinformationthatisdiscrepantwiththeir
priorattitude,andwhichthenleadsthemtochangetheirattitudesaccordingly.The
underlyingrationaleisthatsuchinformationaffectsopinionbecauseitisnewandthusnot
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alreadypartoftherespondents’knowledgeorconvictions.Incontrast,framingeffects
cannotbereducedtonewinformationonly.Instead,framesalso“operatebyactivating
informationalreadyattherecipients’disposal,storedinlongtermmemory”(ibid,225).
Frames,therefore,maynotalwaysoffernewinformation,buttheyinfluencepeople’s
weightingofdifferentconsiderationsandtheperceivedrelevanceofaparticularbelieffor
policyattitudes.Thisconceptualizationofframingeffectscanbeverifiedempirically.If
memoryactivationwasnotpartoftheframingeffects,theeffectofournegativeframing
wouldbeevidentonlyamongthoserespondentswhohadnopreviousexposuretonegative
informationaboutthecostsofimmigration.Whilethelackofresourcespreventedusfrom
exposingourrespondentstosuchinformationpriortotheexperiment,dataonnewspaper
readershipofferareasonableproxyforpreviousexposure.Controllingforreadershipof
newspapersthattendtopropagateananti-immigrationsentiment,wefindnoappreciable
differenceinthemagnitudeoftheframingeffectsacrossthetwogroups(seeTableA12of
theonlineappendix).Thisconfirmstheideathattheframingeffectentailsweightingof
bothnewandpreviouslyacquiredinformationanditisnotsimplybeliefchangeduetonew
information.
2.1Moderatingeffects
Theframingliteraturetellsusthatthestrengthoftheframeisanimportantdeterminantof
itseffectiveness(ChongandDruckman,2007).Framesprovidingclearandunambiguous
informationaremoreeasilyaccessibleandthusmorelikelytobeconsequentialforattitude
formation.Becauseastatementaboutthefiscalimpactofimmigrationrepresentsastrong
frameandmakesthelinkbetweenimmigrationandredistributionimmediatelyobvious,
weexpecttoseecleareffectsofthisframeattheaggregatelevel.
However,itispossiblethatthiseffectmaybefurtheramplifiedbystrongpre-
existingattitudesorcharacteristics.AsChongandDruckman(2007b:120)argue,
“individualswhopossessstrongattitudesarenotonlymorelikelytorecognizewhichside
ofanissueisconsistentwiththeirvalues,buttheyarealsomorelikelytoengagein
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motivatedreasoning”,whichincludesaninclinationtoevaluatenewinformationinaway
thatsupportstheirpreconceptionandtodevaluecontraryevidence.Twotypesofsuch
strongattitudesseemespeciallyimportantforourstudy–anti-immigrantandanti-welfare
attitudes.Individualswithsuchattitudesshouldbeparticularlysusceptibletoournegative
framethatemphasizesthefiscalcostsofimmigration.Thosewhohaveclearanti-
immigrantattitudesaremorelikelytobelieveinformationthatimmigrantsarebenefiting
disproportionatelyfromthewelfarestateandthisislikelytofurtherstrengthenthose
attitudes.Consequently,theyshouldbelesslikelytosupportfurtherwelfarespending.
Similarly,amongrespondentswhoreceivethenegativeframe,thosewhoarealready
criticalaboutthesizeofthewelfarestateshouldbeespeciallyreluctanttosupportan
expansionofwelfarebenefitsbecausesuchframefurtherreinforcestheirbelievesthat
welfarecostsaretoohighorthatmanypeopleonbenefitsarenotdeserving.Webelieve
thattheseattitudescapturebettercognitiveconsiderationsandarethusmore
consequentialthansimplecategoriessuchaseducation,incomeorpoliticalleaning.
Inaddition,weconsiderexpectationsabouteconomicprospectsasanotherfactor
thatmaymoderatetheeffectofourframing.Individualswhoareworriedabouttheir
economicprospectsaremorelikelytoendupbeingdependentonthewelfarestateand
thusmayseeimmigrantsascompetitionforscarceresources.Theoretically,however,itis
unclearwhethersuchcircumstancesshouldamplifytheeffectofournegativeframing.On
theonehand,suchindividualsmaysupportgreaterspendingastheyexpectthattheywill
needtorelyonthewelfarestatemoreheavilyinthefuture.Ontheotherhand,theymaybe
lesssupportiveofwelfarespendingiftheyperceiveimmigrantsasnon-deservingor
believethataleanerwelfarestatewouldbelessattractivetoimmigrants,whichinturn
mighthelpreducetheperceivedcompetitionforwelfare.
3.Thesurveyexperiment
Totesthowtheframingoftheimpactofimmigrationaffectssupportforwelfarespending,
weconductedsurveyexperimentsinGermany,Sweden,andtheUnitedKingdom.Our
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experimentswereembeddedinYouGov’sregularOmnibussurveys.Thesurveysare
administeredonlineandrespondentsarerecruitedfromYouGov’spanelsof800,000
membersintheUK,320,000inGermany,and100,000inSweden.Thesamplesdrawnfrom
thesepanelsarerepresentativeofthenationalpopulationbasedonage,region,gender,
education,politicalinterest,andvotingbehaviouratthelastelection.Respondentsare
selectedusingActiveSamplingtoensurethatonlythosecontactedareabletoaccessthe
survey.Thefinalsamplesizesare3,269intheUK,4,158inGermany,and2,001inSweden.
ThesmallersamplesizeinSwedenreflectsthedifficultyandcostofobtainingalarge
sampleinacountrywithsmallerpopulation.Thesurveyswerefieldedbetween9thand12
June2017intheUK,14thand17thAugust2017inGermany,and22ndto29thSeptember
2017inSweden.4
Forthemainexperiment,allindividualswereprimedwithneutralinformationto
promptthemintothinkingabouthowthewelfarestateisfundedandtherelationship
betweentaxationandwelfarespending:
(Priminginformation):Thegovernmentprovidesarangeofsocialbenefitsand
servicestoaddresstheneedsassociatedwithunemployment,sickness,education,housing,
familycircumstances,andretirement.Suchbenefitsandservicesarefinancedthrough
taxationandnationalinsuranceandalllegalresidentsin[countryname]areentitledto
receivethem.Tospendmoreonsocialbenefitsandservices,thegovernmentmayneedto
increasetaxesandnationalinsurancecontributions.
Individualswerethenrandomizedintothreegroups.Thefirstgroupreceivedthe
informationthatframedtheeconomicimpactofimmigrationonthewelfarestateina
negativelight:
4Thestudywasdeemedtobe“minimalrisk”underthetermsoftheethicalassessmentprocedureat[universityname](seep.32oftheonlineappendixforfurtherdetail).Followingthesurvey,allrespondentsweremadeawarethattheywerepartofasurveyexperiment.
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(Negativeframe):Becauseimmigrantsarealsoentitledtoreceivesocialbenefitsand
usepublicservices,theeconomicimplicationsofimmigrationareanincreasing
concern.Recentresearchshowsthatimmigrationisadrainongovernmentfinances–
onaverage,immigrantstakeoutsignificantlymorefromthewelfarestateinsocial
benefitsandservicesthantheycontributeintaxesandnationalinsurance.
Thesecondgroupreceivedexactlytheoppositeinformation:
(Positiveframe):Becauseimmigrantsarealsoentitledtoreceivesocialbenefitsand
usepublicservices,theeconomicimplicationsofimmigrationareanincreasing
concern.However,recentresearchshowsthatimmigrationisinfactaboostto
governmentfinances–onaverage,immigrantscontributesignificantlymoretothe
welfarestateintaxesandnationalinsurancethantheytakeoutinsocialbenefitsand
services.
Thefinalgroupservesasourcontrolgroupandreceivedonlythepriminginformation.
Everygroupwasthenaskedourdependentvariablequestion.Previousresearchhas
shownthatwhenindividualsareaskedaboutincreasingsocialspendingwithoutbeing
madeawareofthepotentialcosts,thensupportforspendingtendstobeoverstated(
Margalit,2013).Wethereforeassesssupportforsocialspendingbyreferringtothe
potentialcostsofanyincrease.Thefollowingquestion,withfivepossibleresponses
rangingfrom“stronglysupport”to“stronglyoppose”,servesasourdependentvariable:
Doyousupportanincreaseingovernmentspendingonsocialbenefitsandservices
evenifthismayleadtohighertaxes?
Thetreatmentgroupsthereforedifferonlyintheframinginformationthattheyreceived.
Randomizationensuresthatallthreegroupsarenearlyidentical(seeTablesA6-A8)inall
otherrespectsintermsofobservableandunobservablevariablesthatmayconfoundcross-
groupcomparison.
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Strongpre-existingattitudesregardingimmigrantsandwelfarespendingmore
broadlymayamplifytheeffectofourframes.Similarly,thosewhoarelesseconomically
securemayviewimmigrantsascompetitorsforwelfarebenefits.Wethereforeplaced,
priortothetreatment,threeadditionalquestionsonthesurveytoinvestigatethe
conditionaleffectofourframes.Thewordingforeachofthesequestionswasinspiredby
surveyexperimentsundertakenbyFord(2016)andMargalit(2013).Thefirstquestion
measurestheextenttowhichindividualsholdanti-welfarepreferencesthatmayamplify
negativeinformationregardingthewelfarestate.5Thesecondquestionisaimedat
assessingpre-existinganti-immigrantattitudes.6Thefinalquestionisdesignedtoexamine
whethereconomicinsecuritycouldmoderateourtreatmenteffects.7
4.Results
Figure1showsthedistributionofsupportforincreasedwelfarespending.Thedependent
variablehasbeenrecodedintothreecategoriestosimplifythepresentationofourresults
andmakethegraphsmorereadable.8Figure1showsthatthereissubstantialvariationin
supportforincreasedwelfarespendingbothbetweencountriesandbetweentreatment
groups.Ingeneral,supportforincreasedspendingishighestintheUKandlowestin
Sweden.Atfirstglance,thismaybesurprisinggivenwhatweknowabouttherespective
welfareregimes(Esping-Andersen,1990).However,ourquestionasksrespondentsifthey
favorincreasedspendingevenifitleadstohighertaxes.InSweden,welfareexpenditureis
alreadyhighat27.1percentofGDP,comparedto21.5percentintheUKand25.3%in
5Towhatextentyouagreeordisagreewiththefollowingstatement:Manypeoplewhoreceivewelfarebenefitsdon’treallydeserveanyhelp(afivepointscalerangingfromstronglyagreetostronglydisagree).6Onascalefrom0to10,where0standsfor“wouldnotmindatall”and10standsfor“wouldmindagreatdeal”,pleasesayhowmuchwouldyoumindornotmind:(a)livingnextdoortoanimmigrantfamily?,(b)workingwithimmigrants?7Lookingforwardtothenext12months,howconfidentdoyoufeelaboutbeingabletokeepyourcurrentjob?(1.Veryconfident2.Confident3.Slightlyconfident4.Notconfident5.Notemployedatthemoment)8Inaddition,methodologicalconcernshaveinformedthisdecision.Specifically,inourinteractionmodelscellsizesatthetails(stronglysupportandstronglyoppose)forparticularattitudesareverysmall.Forexample,intheUKinthenegativegroupamongthosewhoholdanti-welfareattitudes,only20respondentsstronglysupportincreasedspending.
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Germany.9Therefore,itispossiblethatSwedishrespondentsbroadlybelievethatspending
ishighenoughalready,whileUKrespondentsbelievethatthereisgreatercapacityfor
increasedexpenditure.Inaddition,theUKhasthelowestincometaxinallcategoriesof
income,andhencetheprospectofhighertaxesasapriceforincreasedspendingmaynot
appearsounacceptable.10Inanycase,thisshouldnotaffectoursubstantiveresultssince
weareconcernedwithhowframingchangessupportforspendingratherthanthe
prevalenceofsupportforincreasedexpenditureingeneral.
Figure1:Supportforincreasedsocialspendingbytreatmentgroup.11
Whilethereisacleardifferenceintheoveralllevelofsupportforincreasedwelfare
spendingacrossthethreecountries,thepatternofsupportacrossthetreatmentgroups
9OECD(2018),Socialspending(indicator).doi:10.1787/7497563b-en(Accessedon15June2018)10See“Taxontest:DoBritonspaymorethanmost”,Guardian,27May2017.11StatagraphschemesdesignedbyBischof(2017).
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withincountriesisremarkablysimilar.Figure1alsoshowsthatrespondentsinthecontrol
groupweremorelikelytosupportanincreaseinspendingineachcountry.Thedifference
betweenthecontrolgroupandthenegativetreatmentgroupislargestintheUKat13
percentagepoints.InSwedenthedifferenceis11pointsandinGermany6points.This
providespreliminarysupportforourhypothesisthatnegativeframingoftheimpactof
immigrationleadstoreducedsupportforwelfarespending.Itisalsonoticeablethat
individualsinthepositivetreatmentgroupineachcountryhavelowerlevelsofsupportfor
increasedspendingthanthecontrolgroup.Thismayindicatethatevenamerementionof
immigrationtriggersconsiderationsthatreducewelfaresupport.Thisisaninteresting
outcomethoughatthisstage,itisunclearwhetherthelevelofsupportforincreased
spendingamongthepositivetreatmentgroupissignificantlydifferenttothatofthecontrol
group.Inthenextsectionweturntoamoreformaltestofourhypotheses.
4.1Regressionmodels
Toformallytestourhypotheses,weregressedourdependentvariableonacategorical
indicatorofarespondent’streatmentgroup.Thecontrolgroupisspecifiedasthereference
category.Asthedependentvariableiscategorical,weuseanorderedlogitmodelwith
poststratificationweights.Giventheexperimentalprotocolandthefactthatoursamples
areweightedtoberepresentative,spuriouscorrelationisunlikelytobeaprobleminour
models.WethereforefollowadvicebyMutz(2011,Ch.7)tokeepthemodelsimpleandnot
toincludecontrolvariables.12Insubsequentmodels,whichexaminethemoderatingeffects
ofpre-existingattitudes,weinteractthoseattitudeswiththetreatment.Themodelsare
specifiedasfollows:
𝑌"∗ = 𝛽' +𝛽)𝑇𝑅𝐸𝐴𝑇𝑀𝐸𝑁𝑇𝐺𝑅𝑂𝑈𝑃 +𝜀"
with𝑌"∗capturingindividuals’supportforincreasedwelfarespending,𝑖indexing
individuals,and𝜀" representinganerrorterm.Toexaminetheconditionaleffectofpre-
12Theresultsholdwhenstandardcontrolsareincludedinthemodels(seetableA1intheonlineappendix).
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existingattitudesonourtreatments,additionalmodelsareestimatedcontainingthe
interactionterms𝛽6𝑇𝑅𝐸𝐴𝑇𝑀𝐸𝑁𝑇𝐺𝑅𝑂𝑈𝑃 × 𝐴𝑁𝑇𝐼-𝑊𝐸𝐿𝐹𝐴𝑅𝐸,𝛽<𝑇𝑅𝐸𝐴𝑇𝑀𝐸𝑁𝑇𝐺𝑅𝑂𝑈𝑃 ×
𝐴𝑁𝑇𝐼-𝐼𝑀𝑀𝐼𝐺𝑅𝐴𝑇𝐼𝑂𝑁,and𝛽=𝑇𝑅𝐸𝐴𝑇𝑀𝐸𝑁𝑇𝐺𝑅𝑂𝑈𝑃 × 𝐸𝐶𝑂𝑁𝑂𝑀𝐼𝐶𝐼𝑁𝑆𝐸𝐶𝑈𝑅𝐼𝑇𝑌.The
interactionmodelsalsocontainallconstitutiveterms.Separatemodelsareestimatedfor
eachcountry.TheresultscanbefoundinTables1-3.
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Table1:ImmigrationFramingandSupportforRedistributioninGermany (1) (2) (3) (4) b/se b/se b/se b/seNoframe(ref.) Negativeframe -0.3688*** -0.1419 -0.3556*** -0.2573** (0.0735) (0.0951) (0.0825) (0.0954)Positiveframe -0.1360 -0.0525 -0.0984 -0.1229 (0.0698) (0.0915) (0.0781) (0.0915)Anti-welfare -0.6247*** (0.1015) NegativeframeXAnti-welfare
-0.4889**
(0.1503) PositiveframeXAnti-welfare
-0.2005
(0.1433) Anti-immigrant -0.5612*** (0.1187) NegativeframeXAnti-immigrant
-0.0541
(0.1831) PositiveframeXAnti-immigrant
-0.1837
(0.1757) Economicinsecurity 0.1803 (0.0996)NegativeframeXEconomicinsecurity
-0.2863
(0.1492)PositiveframeXEconomicinsecurity
-0.0246
(0.1413)cut1 Constant -0.5964*** -0.9086*** -0.7312*** -0.5237*** (0.0519) (0.0679) (0.0590) (0.0669)cut2 Constant 0.7173*** 0.4628*** 0.6042*** 0.7917*** (0.0522) (0.0669) (0.0585) (0.0675)N 4158 4158 4158 4158AIC 2.176 2.124 2.156 2.176BIC -25575.8 -25773.7 -25637.2 -25557.5Orderedlogitregressions,coefficientsarelogoddswithstandarderrorsinparentheses.*p<0.05,**p<0.01,***p<0.001
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Table2:ImmigrationFramingandSupportforRedistributioninSweden (1) (2) (3) (4) b/se b/se b/se b/seNoframe(ref.) Negativeframe -0.6128*** -0.5038*** -0.5025*** -0.5618*** (0.1128) (0.1432) (0.1318) (0.1437)Positiveframe -0.2173* -0.1873 -0.0424 -0.1020 (0.1053) (0.1322) (0.1265) (0.1299)Anti-welfare -1.3987*** (0.1669) NegativeframeXAnti-welfare -0.6012* (0.2665) PositiveframeXAnti-welfare -0.4034 (0.2422) Anti-immigrant -0.5933*** (0.1668) NegativeframeXAnti-immigrant
-0.5907*
(0.2786) PositiveframeXAnti-immigrant
-0.5942*
(0.2370) Economicinsecurity 0.1342 (0.1568)NegativeframeXEconomicinsecurity
-0.1344
(0.2306)PositiveframeXEconomicinsecurity
-0.3095
(0.2217)cut1 Constant -0.5027*** -1.0873*** -0.6833*** -0.4520*** (0.0793) (0.1065) (0.0964) (0.0984)cut2 Constant 0.7779*** 0.3685*** 0.6497*** 0.8297*** (0.0810) (0.1017) (0.0960) (0.1005)N 2001 2001 2001 2001AIC 2.161 1.991 2.109 2.163BIC -10863.6 -11186.8 -10951.9 -10843.1Orderedlogitregressions,coefficientsarelogoddswithstandarderrorsinparentheses.*p<0.05,**p<0.01,***p<0.001
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Table3:ImmigrationFramingandSupportforRedistributionintheUK (9) (10) (11) (12) b/se b/se b/se b/seNoframe(ref.) Negativeframe -0.6335*** -0.4679*** -0.4792*** -0.4167*** (0.0899) (0.1191) (0.1120) (0.1178)Positiveframe -0.1417 -0.1737 -0.1637 -0.1210 (0.0866) (0.1171) (0.1114) (0.1178)Anti-welfare -1.1057*** (0.1325) NegativeframeXAnti-welfare -0.5540**
(0.1922) PositiveframeXAnti-welfare -0.0664
(0.1837) Anti-immigrant -0.7993*** (0.1329) NegativeframeXAnti-immigrant -0.6360**
(0.1989) PositiveframeXAnti-immigrant 0.0688
(0.1833) Economicinsecurity 0.5522*** (0.1266)NegativeframeXEconomicinsecurity -0.5183**
(0.1821)PositiveframeXEconomicinsecurity -0.1148
(0.1746)cut1 Constant -0.9426*** -1.4852*** -1.2653*** -0.7150*** (0.0670) (0.0918) (0.0850) (0.0853)cut2 Constant 0.0850 -0.3505*** -0.1800* 0.3225*** (0.0638) (0.0857) (0.0801) (0.0837)N 3269 3269 3269 3269AIC 2.102 1.990 2.039 2.092BIC -19557.2 -19906.7 -19744.6 -19570.7Orderedlogitregressions,coefficientsarelogoddswithstandarderrorsinparentheses.*p<0.05,**p<0.01,***p<0.001
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Themainmodels(models1,5,and9)showthatnegativeframingofimmigrationis
associatedwithreducedsupportforgreaterwelfarespendinginallcountries.Figure2
depictsthepredictedprobabilitiesofsupportingoropposinggreaterspendingforthe
differentgroups.Thedifferencesbetweenthenegativeframeandthecontrolgroupare
starkineachcountry.InGermany,individualsinthenegativetreatmentgrouphavea44
percentprobabilityofopposingincreasedspending,comparedto36percentinthecontrol
group.ThedifferencesareevengreaterinSweden(53vs.38percent)andtheUK(42vs.
28percent).TheseresultsprovidestrongsupportforH2(a).Individualsthatreceivedthe
negativeframingconcerningtheimpactofimmigrationonthewelfarestatearemuchless
likelytosupportgreaterspendingthanrespondentsthatreceivednoframing.Thisfigure
alsosuggestssomecross-countrydifferencesinthelevelofsupportforgreaterspending
withinthenegativeframegroup.Inlinewiththereasoningabouttheimpactofwelfare
regimesoutlinedintheintroduction,Swedenleadsthewaywithoverhalfofrespondents
inthisgroupunwillingtosupportgreaterspending.
TheresultsalsoprovidesomesupportforH2(b).Drawingontheliteratureon
negativitybias,weexpectedthatpositiveframingoftheimpactofimmigrationwouldbe
weakerthannegativeframing.Thisisbecausenegativeinformationtendstobemore
salientandmemorablethanpositiveinformation(Ledgerwood&Boydstun,2014;
Boydstunetal,2017;Sparks&Ledgerwood,2017).Giventhesalienceofimmigrationasan
issueincontemporarypolitics,wealsoexpectedthatrespondentswouldalreadyhave
encounteredsomenegativemessagesconcerningtheimpactofimmigration.Asnegative
messagestendtobestickier,overturningthemwithpositiveinformationcanbe
challenging.
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Figure2:Predictedprobabilityofoppositionorsupportforincreasedwelfare
spendingbytreatmentgroup.
Figure2showsthat,asexpected,thepositiveframeisweakerthanthenegative
frameinallcountries.13Inaddition,individualsinthepositivetreatmentgroupareless
likelytosupportincreasedwelfarespendingandmorelikelytoopposeitthanrespondents
inthecontrolgroup.However,itisimportanttonotethatthisdifferenceinsupportfor
increasedspendingbetweenthepositivetreatmentgroupandthecontrolgroupis
13Werefertotheresultsintermsofpredictedprobabilitiesinthispaper.MarginaleffectsforthenegativeandpositivetreatmentgroupsareavailableintheonlineappendixinFiguresA1toA4.
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statisticallysignificantonlyinSweden(seetables1-3).Thatpositiveinformationaboutthe
impactofimmigrationcanreducesupportforwelfarespendingmayseemanomalous.
However,culturalandeconomicfactors(HainmuellerandHiscox2007;Hainmuellerand
Hopkins2015;SidesandCitrin2007)aswellaspriormediacoverageofimmigrationare
likelytoplayaroleinshapinghowindividualsperceivetheimpactofmigrants.Previous
researchhasshownthatimmigrationisusuallypresentedinanovertlynegativewayinthe
mediawhichcanleadtoindividualsdevelopingnegativepriorsaboutmigrants(Abrajano
etal,2017;Alesinaetal2018;Allen&Blinder,2013).Asthesenegativemessagestendto
bemorepowerfulduetonegativitybias,itisconceivablethateventheuseoftheterm
‘immigrants’inapositivecontextmaytriggeranegativeresponseamongrespondents.
Furthersupportforthispropositioncanbefoundinstudiesoftheelectoralperformanceof
anti-immigrantpoliticalparties.Theyshowthatsimpleexposuretomediacoverageof
immigration-relatedstories–whetherpositiveornegativeincontext–increasessupport
foranti-immigrationparties(BoomgaardenandVliegenthart,2007;Burscheretal,2015).
Althoughthisisaplausibleexplanation,itispossiblethatthenegativeeffectofthe
positivetreatmentisamethodologicalartifactinthesensethatthepositiveframemaynot
havebeenperceivedassuch.Thepairwisecontrastsofthetreatmentcoefficients(TableA2
intheonlineappendix)suggestthatthisisnotthecaseandconfirmthattheeffectsofthe
negativeandpositivetreatmentsaredistinctfromeachotherinallcases.
Twofurthertestswereusedtoexamineifthepositiveframemaynotbeperceived
aspositive.Thefirstwasapre-testsurveyusingaconveniencesampleofstudents
undertakenat[Universitynameredactedforreview].69percentofthosewhoreceivedthe
negativeframebelievedthatitwasaccurate,comparedto66percentofthosewhoreceived
thepositiveframe.Sincestudentsgenerallydisplaymorepro-immigrantattitudes,we
wouldexpectthedifferenceintheperceptionsoftheaccuracyoftheseframestobeeven
moreevidentinthebroaderpopulation.Butsinceoursampleinthispre-testwassmall(79
students),wehavealsoundertakenapost-experimentmanipulationcheckintheUKto
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verifyifthepositivetreatmentwasperceivedassuch.14Respondentsineachtreatment
groupweresubjectedtothesameexperimentalprotocolassetoutabove.Anadditional
questionwasaddedattheendoftheexperiment,askingwhetherrespondentsbelievethat
immigrantscontributemoreintaxesthantheyreceivefromthewelfarestate.Theresults
ofthemanipulationcheckcanbefoundinTable4.Theyshowcleardifferencesbetween
thepositiveandnegativetreatmentgroups.42.3percentofrespondentswhoreceivedthe
negativeframestatedthattheybelieveimmigrantscontributemorethantheycost
comparedto53.7percentofthoseinthepositiveframegroup.Aformaltestofthese
differencescanbefoundinTableA3oftheonlineappendix.Theresultsofthislogitmodel
showthatrespondentsinthenegativeframegrouparesignificantlylesslikelytobelieve
thatimmigrantscontributemorethantheycostthanthoseinthepositiveframegroup.
Theseresultsleadustoconcludethatboththenegativeandpositiveframeswereboth
correctlyperceivedbyrespondents.
Overall,wefindsupportforeachofourhypotheses.Negativeframesaremore
powerfulthanpositiveframes(H1).Theresultsalsoshowthatnegativeframingofthe
impactofimmigrationreducessupportforincreasedwelfarespending(H2(a)),but
positiveframinghaslittleeffect(H2(b)).Inthenextsectionweconsidertheconditional
impactofourtreatments.
14LackoffundingpreventedusfromdoingthesamechecksinGermanyandSweden.
Table4.Manipulationcheckfrequencies(%) Negativeframe Positiveframe NoframeNo 57.73 46.28 54.15Yes 42.27 53.72 45.85N 440 430 434Note:Respondentswereaskedthefollowingquestion:“Doyoubelievethat,onaverage,immigrantscontributemoreintaxesandnationalinsurancethantheyreceiveinbenefitsandservicesfromthewelfarestate?”No,immigrantscostmorethantheycontributeYes,immigrantscontributemorethantheycostFieldworkcarriedoutbyYouGov,February20th-21st2019.
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4.2Theconditionaleffectofnegativeframing
Whiletheresultspresentedaboveprovidestrongsupportforourtheoreticalargument,it
ispossiblethattheeffectofnegativeframingcouldbestrongerforindividualsthathold
specificbeliefsaboutwelfareandimmigration.Thefirstconditionaleffectweconsideris
whetherindividualsholdanti-welfareattitudes.15Somepeoplebelievethatwelfare
benefitsareintrinsicallywrongandthatmanybenefitclaimantsareundeserving.Itis
likelythattheseindividualswillbemoresusceptibletonegativeframingasitwillreinforce
theirbeliefthatmanypeopleunjustlyclaimbenefits.Wethereforeinteractedour
treatmentgroupvariablewiththebinaryindicatorofanti-welfareattitudes.16
Theresultscanbefoundinmodels2,6,and10ofTables1-3.Theinteractionterms
inthesemodelsareallnegativeandstatisticallysignificantfortherespondentsthat
receivedthenegativeframe.Thissupportsourargumentthatnegativeframeswillbemore
powerful.Astheresultsfromthepositiveframegrouparenotsignificantlydifferentfrom
thoseofthecontrolgroup,andinordertoenhancetheclarityofthegraphs,Figures3,4,
and5containonlytheresultsforthenegativeframegroupandthecontrolgroup.To
furtherensurethatthegraphsarereadable,weonlyplotthepredictedprobabilitiesfor
oppositiontowelfarespending.
Figure3showsthepredictedprobabilitiesofopposingincreasedwelfarespending
dependingonanindividual’spre-existingwelfareattitudes.Incomparisontothecontrol
group,respondentsexposedtothenegativeframealwayshaveahigherprobabilityof
opposingincreasedwelfarespending.However,asFigure3suggests,thisdifferencein
probabilitybetweenthetreatmentandcontrolgroupismuchmorepronouncedfor
15Wechoosetoconsiderthedifferentinteractionsinseparatemodelstosimplifytheinterpretationoftheresults.Theresultspresentedinthissectionarenotappreciablydifferentinmodelsthatcombinealltheinteractions.16Thisscalefromtheoriginalquestionhasbeenrecodedintoabinaryvariable.Responses“Stronglyagree”and“Agree”arecoded1;allotherresponsesarecoded0.Theresultsusingtheoriginalscalearenotsubstantivelydifferenttothosepresentedinthispaper.AgraphoftheresultscanbefoundinFigureA8oftheonlineappendix.
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respondentsholdinganti-welfareattitudes.Thelikelihoodofopposingwelfarespending
forthisgroupisalsoalwayssubstantiallyhigherthanforrespondentswhodonothold
anti-welfareattitudes.Forexample,inGermanyindividualswhoreceivedthenegative
frameandholdanti-welfareattitudeshavea59percentprobabilityopposingincreased
welfarespending,comparedto32percentforthosewhoholdnosuchattitudes.
Figure3:Predictedprobabilityofoppositiontoincreasedwelfarespendinginthe
negativetreatmentgroupconditionalonpro/anti-welfareattitudes
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Itisalsolikelythatpeoplewhoholdnegativepredispositionstowardsimmigrants
willbemorereceptivetonegativeframingregardingtheimpactofimmigration.To
examinethis,weinteractedadummycapturinganti-immigrantattitudeswithour
treatmentgroupindicator.17Figure4showsthattheprobabilitythatanindividualinthe
negativetreatmentgroupwillopposehigherwelfarespendingincreasessubstantiallyfor
thoseharboringanti-immigrantattitudes.However,asmodels3,7,and11inthetables
show,thisinteractionissignificantinSwedenandtheUK,butnotinGermany.This
indicatesthatinSwedenandtheUKtheeffectofthenegativetreatmentisfurther
amplifiedforrespondentswhoholdanti-immigrantviews.Inallthreecountries,
oppositiontowelfarespendingishigheramongthosethatholdanti-immigrantviews
regardlessofwhethertheywereinthenegativeframeorcontrolgroup.Ineachcountry,
individualswhoreceivedthenegativeframeweremorelikelytoopposeincreased
spendingiftheyalsoheldpro-immigrantviews.Theseresultsindicatethatnegative
framingincreasesoppositiontosocialspendingamongbothpro-andanti-immigration
individualsthoughthesizeoftheeffectisgreateramongthosethatholdanti-immigrant
attitudesinSwedenandtheUK.FigureA3intheonlineappendixprovidesfurtherevidence
ofthisresult,showingthemarginaleffectofnegativeframingconditionalonanindividual’s
pre-existingattitudestowardsimmigrants.
17Thisdummycapturestheaverageresponsetothetwoquestionsgauginganti-immigrantattitudes(seefootnote6).Onlyrespondentsscoringmorethan5onthisscaleareconsideredtoholdanti-immigrantattitudes.Theresultsusingtheoriginalscalearenotsubstantivelydifferenttothosepresentedinthispaper.AgraphoftheresultscanbefoundinFigureA9oftheonlineappendix.
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Figure4:Predictedprobabilityofoppositiontoincreasedwelfarespendinginthe
negativetreatmentgroupconditionalonattitudestowardsimmigrants
Finally,ifindividualsarecurrentlyfacingorexpectingeconomicinsecurityinthe
future,theymayviewimmigrantsascompetitionforwelfareresources.Economically
insecurerespondentsthusmaybemoresusceptibletothenegativeframe.Theresultsof
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theinteractionbetweenthedummycapturingeconomicinsecurityandthetreatment
variablecanbefoundinmodels4,8and12ofthetablesandareillustratedinFigure5.18
Figure5:Predictedprobabilityofoppositiontoincreasedwelfarespendinginthe
negativetreatmentgroupconditionalonperceivedeconomicinsecurity
18Thosewhostatedthattheyarenotconfidentaboutkeepingtheircurrentjoborarenotemployedaremorelikelytoperceiveimmigrantsascompetitionandwerecoded1,andthosewhosaidtheywereeitherveryconfident,confident,orslightlyconfidentwerecoded0.Seefootnote7fortheexactquestionwording.Theresultsusingtheoriginalscalearenotsubstantivelydifferenttothosepresentedinthispaper.AgraphoftheresultscanbefoundinFigureA10oftheonlineappendix.
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InGermanyandSweden,theinteractionisnotstatisticallysignificantforanyofthe
treatmentgroups.Incontrast,Figure5showsthatintheUK,amongindividualswhodid
notreceiveanyframe,thosewhoperceivethemselvesaseconomicallyinsecureareless
likelytoopposeincreasedwelfarespending.19However,forthoseinthenegativeframe
group,perceivedeconomicinsecuritydoesnotaffecttheiroppositiontowelfarespending.
Ineffect,thenegativeframingoverridesperceptionsofeconomicinsecurity.The
differencesbetweentheUKononehand,andGermanyandSwedenontheother,arelikely
aresultofthecurrentwelfaregenerosityandthetypeofimmigrationexperiencedineach
country.GermanyandSwedenhavemoregenerouswelfarestatesthantheUK,whichmay
increasetheperceptionofgreatercompetitionforresourcesinthelatter.Furthermore,in
2016GermanyintroducedstricterrulesontherightsofEUmigrantstoaccessmost
welfarebenefitsincludingrequiringthatanindividualhaslivedinGermanyforfiveyears
beforetheycanmakeaclaim.Restrictionsonmigrants’accesstothewelfarestateislikely
tohavereducedtheperceptionthattheyrepresentcompetitiontothenativepopulation.
Thenatureofimmigrationcouldalsochangeperceptionsofwelfarecompetitionineach
country.TheimmigrationdebateintheUKfocusesoneconomicmigrants,mainlyfromEU
countries,andtheimpactthattheyhaveonthelabormarketandwelfareservicesincluding
benefitsandhousing.InGermanyandSweden,recentimmigrationdebateshaverevolved
aroundrefugeesfromSyriaandAfghanistan.Thesedebateshavetendedtoemphasizethe
culturalimpactofimmigrationratherthantheeffectonthelabormarket.However,itis
alsoimportanttonotethattheeconomicallysecureindividualsinthenegativeframegroup
werealsomorelikelytoopposeincreasedwelfarespendingthaneconomicallysecure
respondentsinthecontrolgroup.FurtherconfirmationofthiscanbefoundinFigureA4
whichshowsthemarginaleffectofnegativeframingconditionalonanindividual’srelative
economicsecurity.Thissuggeststhatalthougheconomicinsecurityamplifiestheeffectof
thenegativeframingofimmigration,eventhosewhodonotfaceeconomicinsecurityare
notimmunetoit.
19Thisisparticularlythecasefortheunemployed,asindicatedinfigureA10.
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Takentogether,theseresultsindicatethattheeffectofnegativeframingcanbe
exacerbatedbyotherattitudes.Individualsthatbelievewelfareclaimantsarelikelytobe
undeserving,andthosethatholdnegativepredispositionstowardsimmigrantsaremore
likelytoopposeincreasedwelfarespendingiftheyreceivedthenegativeframeinour
experiment.However,inmostinstances,negativeframingincreasesoppositiontowelfare
spendingirrespectiveofanindividual’spre-existingattitudesandperceptionsofeconomic
insecurity.Theresultsarealsoconsistentwithourtheoreticalargument:theeffectofthe
negativeframeofimmigrationonthewelfarestateisgreaterintheseconditionalmodels
thantheeffectofthepositiveframe.20Overall,theresultsshowthatnegativitybiascanbe
apowerfulinfluenceonindividuallevelattitudes.
5.Conclusion
Theimpactofimmigrationonpoliticsandsocietyisoneofthemostsalientissuesin
affluentdemocracies.Theincreasedprominenceofradicalrightparties,andtheshiftson
immigrationpolicythattheyhaveseeminglyenforcedonmainstreamparties,hasonly
servedtoincreasetheimportanceoftheissue(Abou-Chadi&Krause,2018).Oneofthe
centraldebatessurroundingimmigrationistheimpactthatithasongovernmentfinances,
principallyviaincreasedpressureonthewelfarestate.Thereisnoconsistentevidence
regardingtheimpactofimmigrationonthewelfarestate,buttheperceptionthat
immigrantsareastrainonthewelfarestateremains,particularlyamongopponentsof
immigration.
Inthisresearch,wehavetestedwhetherthewaythattheimpactofimmigrationis
framedcaninfluenceindividuallevelsupportforwelfarespending.Usingasurvey
experiment,werandomlyassignedindividualsinGermany,Sweden,andtheUKtoreceive
eithernegativeinformationregardingtheimpactofimmigration,positiveinformation,or
noinformation.Theresultsshowthatwhilethedifferencesinthelevelofwelfare
20ThiscanbeobservedinFiguresA5-A7oftheonlineappendixwhichprovidecorrespondingpredictedprobabilityplotsforthepositiveframegroup.
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support/oppositionmayberegime-related,thenegativeframingsignificantlyreduced
supportfor,andincreasedoppositionto,greaterwelfarespendinginallthreecountries.
Furthermore,pre-existinganti-welfareandanti-immigrantattitudesamplifytheeffectsof
negativeframingofimmigration.However,thepositivetreatmentdidnotincreasesupport
forwelfarespendinginourexperiment.
Wearguethatthegreaterpowerofthenegativetreatmentcanbeexplainedby
negativitybias.Previousresearchshowsthatindividualsappeartobepredisposedtogive
greaterweighttonegativeinformation(Baumeisteretal.2001;RozinandRoyzman,2001).
Moreover,negativeinformationisusuallystrongerandmorememorablethanpositive
information(Ledgerwood&Boydstun,2014;Boydstunetal,2017;Sparks&Ledgerwood,
2017).Thismeansthatitisbothmoredifficulttooverturnnegativepreconceptionsand
easiertooverridepreviously-heldpositivebeliefs.
Whiletheresultssupportourcentralargumentthatnegativeframingof
immigrationreducessupportforwelfarespending,itshouldbenotedthatwedonotknow
ifthiseffectpersistsovertime.Resourcelimitationspreventedtheuseofare-contact
study.However,giventhatnegativeframesarelikelytobestickierandmorememorable
thanpositiveframes,thereisreasontobelievethattheeffectsmaynotbetransient.
Anotherconcernisthatthefindingsgeneratedbyoursurveyexperimentmaynot
reflectperfectlytherealworld,anissueemphasizedbyBarabasandJerrit(2010).Our
respondentswerenotmadeawareoftheexactsourceofinformationtheywerepresented
with.Intherealworld,thesourceofsuchinformationisoftenevidentanditmayaffectits
credibility.UsingactualnewspaperarticlesorTVreports,ratherthangeneralframing,
wouldhaveaddressedthisconcern.However,directlycomparableinformationwasnot
readilyavailable.Whilevariousarticlesandreportshaveemphasizedeitherthecostsor
benefitsofimmigration,theirmeasuresofcosts/benefitsarerarelycomparable.21Since
21Someassessmentsarebasedonabsolutecontribution/costofimmigrants,whileothersfocusontheirrelativecontributionvisavisthenatives.Somesourcesreflectfiguresforthewhole
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ourargumentisthatnegativeframescarrymoreweightthanpositiveframes,itwas
imperativethattheinformationaboutimmigrationprovidedtothetwotreatmentgroups
wasidenticalineverythingapartfromthedirection.Consequently,wecannotexcludethe
possibilitythattheeffectswefoundwouldbesomewhatsmallerinthenaturalsetting,but
wehavenoreasontobelievethatthedirectionoftheeffectwouldbeverydifferent.
Theseresultshavepotentiallysignificantimplicationsforthoseengagedindebates
aboutimmigration.Itisoftenbelievedthatengagingwiththeevidenceandpresentingthe
generallypositiveeconomicimpactofimmigrationwillchangepublicopinion.However,
thetoneoftheimmigrationdebateisoverwhelminglynegativeinmostEuropean
countries.Asindividualsareinnatelypredisposedtonegativeinformationandaffordit
greaterweight,suchpositiveaccountsregardingtheimpactofimmigrationareeasierto
discount.Thispresentsaformidablechallengetothoseonthepro-immigrationsideofthe
argument.Afurtherimplicationofthisresearchisthatsupportforthewelfarestatemaybe
moredifficulttosustainifopponentsconsistentlylinktogethersocialspendingand
immigration.Ifthesebeliefsbecomemorewidelyheld,overturningnegative
preconceptionsaboutthenatureofsocialexpenditurewillbecomeincreasinglydifficult
whichmaypresentathreattothesustainabilityofthewelfarestate.
immigrantpopulation,whileothersfortheaverageimmigrant.Assumptionsunderpinningcalculationsarealsooftendifferent.
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APPENDIXMarginaleffectsgraphs
FigureA1.Themarginaleffectofnegativeandpositiveframesontheprobabilityofoppositionandsupportforwelfarespending
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FigureA2.Themarginaleffectofnegativeandpositiveframesontheprobabilityofoppositiontowelfarespendingconditionalonanti/pro-welfareattitudes
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FigureA3.Themarginaleffectofnegativeandpositiveframesontheprobabilityofoppositiontowelfarespendingconditionalonanti/pro-immigrantattitudes
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FigureA4.Themarginaleffectofnegativeandpositiveframesontheprobabilityofoppositiontowelfarespendingconditionalonperceptionsofeconomicinsecurity
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FigureA5:Predictedprobabilityofoppositiontoincreasedwelfarespendinginthepositivetreatmentgroupconditionalonpro/anti-welfareattitudes
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FigureA6:Predictedprobabilityofoppositiontoincreasedwelfarespendinginthepositivetreatmentgroupconditionalonattitudestowardsimmigrants
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FigureA7:Predictedprobabilityofoppositiontoincreasedwelfarespendinginthepositivetreatmentgroupconditionalonperceivedeconomicinsecurity
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FigureA8:Predictedprobabilityofoppositiontoincreasedwelfarespendinginthepositivetreatmentgroupconditionalonpro/anti-welfareattitudesNote:Question“Towhatextentyouagreeordisagreewiththefollowingstatement: Manypeoplewhoreceivewelfarebenefitsdon’treallydeserveanyhelp.”1.Stronglyagree,2.Tendtoagree,3.Neitheragreenordisagree,4.Tendtodisagree,5.Stronglydisagree
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FigureA9:PredictedprobabilityofoppositiontoincreasedwelfarespendinginthepositivetreatmentgroupconditionalonattitudestowardsimmigrantsNote:Questions:“Onascalefrom0to10,where0standsfor“wouldnotmindatall”and10standsfor“wouldmindagreatdeal”,pleasesayhowmuchwouldyoumindornotmind:(a)livingnextdoortoanimmigrantfamily?,(b)workingwithimmigrants?”Anindexwascreatedbyaveragingresponsesonthetwoscales.
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FigureA10:PredictedprobabilityofoppositiontoincreasedwelfarespendinginthepositivetreatmentgroupconditionalonperceivedeconomicinsecurityNote:Question:“Lookingforwardtothenext12months,howconfidentdoyoufeelaboutbeingabletokeepyourcurrentjob?”1.Veryconfident,2.Confident,3.Slightlyconfident,4.Notconfident,5.Notemployedatthemoment
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TableA1:ImmigrationFramingandWelfareSupport(withcontrols) Germany Sweden UK b/se b/se b/seNoframe(ref) Negativeframe -0.3505*** -0.7367*** -0.7843*** (0.0748) (0.1244) (0.0985)Positiveframe -0.1183 -0.2752* -0.1407 (0.0708) (0.1167) (0.0936)Age(18-24ref) 0.0000 Age 0.0065 Age 0.0117**25-34 -0.1401 (0.0043) (0.0038) (0.1421) Male -0.1275 Female -0.136935-44 -0.1813 (0.1028) (0.0810)
(0.1499) Educationlevel(elementary,ref)
Educationlevel(noqualifications,ref)
45-54 -0.2991* Secondary 0.1572 Vocational 0.0880 (0.1462) (0.2194) (0.1846)Over55 -0.2237 Post-secondary 0.2564 Secondary -0.0627 (0.1396) (0.2723) (0.1672)
Female -0.3985*** Post-secondaryvocational -0.0563 Tertiary 0.3113
(0.0619) (0.2549) (0.1645)Educationlevel University,1-2y 0.2131 Don’tknow -0.4064(noqualification,ref) (0.2486) (0.2680)
Stillintraining 0.0860 University,3-4y 0.4893*Workstatus(fulltime,ref)
(0.2561) (0.2282) Part-time8-29hp/w 0.2814*
Stillstudying -0.0987 University,5y+ 0.1346 (0.1194)
(0.2078) (0.2458) Part-time<8hp/w 0.4485
Vocationaldegree -0.1349 Doctorate -0.4536 (0.3016)
(0.1423) (0.5417) Fulltimestudent 0.9086***
Universityorhigher 0.0351 Rathernotsay -0.1074 (0.1972)
(0.1509) (0.4880) retired 0.4092**Refusedtosay 0.0022 Workstatus (0.1345) (0.1749) Fulltime 0.0264 Unemployed 0.5983*Workstatus(fulltime,ref) (0.2624) (0.2369)
Parttime8-29hp/w 0.3075 Notworking 0.8413***
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Parttime8-29hp/w 0.1894 (0.2701) (0.1549)
(0.1142) Parttime<8hp/w 0.6184*
Pastvote(Conservatives,ref)
Parttime<8hp/w -0.3821 (0.2751) Labour 1.8369***
(0.3209) Studying 0.1071 (0.1017)
Notworking 0.3472*** (0.2446) LiberalDemocrats 1.5865***
(0.0710) Pensioner -0.2314 (0.1595)Other -0.2529 (0.2803) SNP 2.0325*** (0.7361) Seekingwork -0.3868 (0.2249)Pastvote(CDU/CSU,ref) (0.3431) PlaidCymru 0.3541
SPD 0.4355*** Doesnotworkatall 0.5178 (0.5209)
(0.0920) (0.4916) UKIP 0.5165*
DieLinke 0.4515** Pastvote(Moderates,ref) (0.2550)
(0.1390) Green 1.8621***Gruene 0.8502*** CentreParty 0.7763** (0.3361) (0.1309) (0.2978) Other 0.3784FDP -0.5826** Liberals 0.4764 (0.4014) (0.2009) (0.2531) Don’tknow 0.2198
AfD -0.8889*** ChristianDemocrats 0.6209* (0.4003)
(0.1830) (0.2885) Notasked 0.7742***Other -0.0547 Greens 2.0849*** (0.1290) (0.1645) (0.2262) Non-voter 0.0486 SocialDemocrats 1.9012*** (0.0815) (0.1529) LeftParty 2.8296*** (0.2297)
FeministInitiative 3.1209***
(0.3800)
SwedenDemocrats -0.7365***
(0.1808) Other 1.6851** (0.6147) Non-voter 0.6989* (0.2941)
Noneoftheabove 0.5238
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(0.3561) Norighttovote 1.6036*** (0.2834) Don’tknow 1.2064*** (0.3120)
Don’twanttosay 0.9988***
(0.1776) cut1 -0.7685*** 0.8772* 0.7682** (0.2005) (0.4221) (0.2727) cut2 0.5974** 2.4750*** 1.9832*** (0.2002) (0.4260) (0.2759)N 4158 2001 3191Loglikelihood -4417.446 -1879.471 -3043.3224*p<0.05,**p<0.01,***p<0.001Note:Differencesincategoriesareduetodifferentquestionsasked(orthewayinwhichquestionsarecoded)intheYouGovOmnibusintherespectivecountries.Thevoteinthelastelectionsistakenasaproxyforpoliticalleaning.Theresultsareunaffectedifpartyidisusedinstead.
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TableA2.Pairwisecontrastsoftreatmentgroups
(i) GermanyTreatmentgroup
Contrast Std.error Sig. 95%confinterval
Positivevsnegative
.2328031 .0735468 0.005 .0567335 .4088727
Controlvsnegative
.3688177 .0735311 0.000 .1927857 .5448496
Controlvspositive
.1360146 .0697729 0.154 -.0310203 .3030495
(ii) Sweden
Treatmentgroup
Contrast Std.error Sig. 95%confinterval
Positivevsnegative
.3955124 .1106948 0.001 .1305112 .6605136
Controlvsnegative
.6128006 .1128207 0.000 .3427101 .8828912
Controlvspositive
.2172882 .1052672 0.117 -.0347195 .4692959
(iii) UnitedKingdom
Treatmentgroup
Contrast Std.error Sig. 95%confinterval
Positivevsnegative
.4918099 .0881157 0.000 .2808626 .7027572
Controlvsnegative
.6335371 .0899221 0.000 .4182655 .8488087
Controlvspositive
.1417272 .0866312 0.306 -.0656661 .3491205
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TableA3.Manipulationcheck–logitresults b/sePositiveframe(ref.) Negativeframe -0.461** (0.148)Noframe -0.293* (0.149)Constant 0.065 (0.106)N 1304Log-likelihood -885.978*p<0.05,**p<0.01,***p<0.001Note:dependentvariableisthequestion:“Doyoubelievethat,onaverage,immigrantscontributemoreintaxesandnationalinsurancethantheyreceiveinbenefitsandservicesfromthewelfarestate?”.Responsesarecoded:0“No,immigrantscostmorethantheycontribute”and1“Yes,immigrantscontributemorethantheycost”.FieldworkcarriedoutbyYouGov,February20th-21st2019.
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TableA4:ImmigrationFramingandSupportforSocialSpendinginGermany–reducedsample (1) (2) (3) (4) b/se b/se b/se b/seNoframe(ref.) Negativeframe -0.341** -0.079 -0.285* -0.260 (0.105) (0.136) (0.120) (0.137)Positiveframe -0.148 0.020 -0.122 -0.199 (0.101) (0.132) (0.114) (0.131)Anti-welfare -0.681*** (0.145) NegativeframeXAnti-welfare -0.638** (0.217) PositiveframeXAnti-welfare -0.327 (0.207) Anti-immigrant -0.614*** (0.160) NegativeframeXAnti-immigrant -0.253 (0.255) PositiveframeXAnti-immigrant -0.131 (0.247) Economicinsecurity 0.028 (0.141)NegativeframeXEconomicinsecurity -0.213 (0.213)PositiveframeXEconomicinsecurity 0.139 (0.205) cut1 -0.610*** -0.960*** -0.759*** -0.599*** (0.074) (0.096) (0.085) (0.095)cut2 0.667*** 0.396*** 0.546*** 0.679*** (0.074) (0.094) (0.084) (0.095)N 2001 2001 2001 2001Log-likelihood -2178.452 -2104.763 -2150.872 -2177.048AIC 4364.905 4223.526 4315.744 4368.096*p<0.05,**p<0.01,***p<0.001Note:NreducedtocorrespondtotheSwedishsample.
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TableA5:ImmigrationFramingandSupportforSocialSpendinginUnitedKingdom–reducedsample (1) (2) (3) (4) b/se b/se b/se b/seNoframe(ref.) Negativeframe -0.628*** -0.436** -0.375** -0.424** (0.114) (0.152) (0.140) (0.150)Positiveframe -0.073 -0.062 -0.071 -0.045 (0.113) (0.153) (0.144) (0.152)Anti-welfare -0.940*** (0.169) NegativeframeXAnti-welfare -0.621* (0.242) PositiveframeXAnti-welfare -0.280 (0.241) Anti-immigrant -0.574*** (0.171) NegativeframeXAnti-immigrant -0.912*** (0.255) PositiveframeXAnti-immigrant -0.028 (0.242) Economicinsecurity 0.574*** (0.162)NegativeframeXEconomicinsecurity -0.506* (0.230)PositiveframeXEconomicinsecurity -0.148 (0.229) cut1 -0.889*** -1.369*** -1.123*** -0.660*** (0.085) (0.119) (0.106) (0.108)cut2 0.106 -0.281* -0.079 0.346** (0.081) (0.111) (0.101) (0.107)N 2001 2001 2001 2001Log-likelihood -2083.588 -1981.251 -2026.437 -2071.839AIC 4175.176 3976.501 4066.875 4157.679*p<0.05,**p<0.01,***p<0.001Note:NreducedtocorrespondtotheSwedishsample.
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TableA6:Germany-treatmentgroupbalance (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Age Gender Pastvote Education Work
status b/se b/se b/se b/se b/seNegativeframegroup 18-24(ref.) 25-34 -0.066 (0.167) 35-44 0.157 (0.169) 45-54 0.064 (0.161) Over55 0.126 (0.146) Female 0.124 (0.079) CDU/CSU(ref.) SPD -0.257* (0.116) DieLinke -0.139 (0.169) Grüne -0.064 (0.168) FDP 0.136 (0.217) AfD 0.095 (0.226) Other -0.317 (0.206) Non-voter -0.235* (0.104) Noqualifications(ref.) Stilltraining 0.274 (0.328) Stillstudying 0.427 (0.280) Vocationaldegree 0.277 (0.207) Universityorhigherdegree 0.292 (0.213) Full-time(ref.) P/T8-29hoursp/w -0.096 (0.146)P/Tlessthan8hoursp/w 0.216 (0.422)Notworking -0.090 (0.084)Constant -0.113 -0.099 0.107 -0.311 0.017
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(0.133) (0.057) (0.076) (0.200) (0.065)Positiveframegroup 18-24(ref.) 25-34 0.247 (0.166) 35-44 0.383* (0.170) 45-54 0.089 (0.164) Over55 0.275 (0.148) Female 0.060 (0.078) CDU/CSU(ref.) SPD -0.149 (0.117) DieLinke -0.050 (0.168) Grüne -0.105 (0.174) FDP 0.038 (0.227) AfD 0.230 (0.228) Other 0.036 (0.193) Non-voter -0.026 (0.103) Noqualifications(ref.) Stilltraining 0.433 (0.309) Stillstudying 0.429 (0.279) Vocationaldegree 0.318 (0.204) Universityorhigherdegree 0.204 (0.212) Full-time(ref.) P/T8-29hoursp/w -0.113 (0.146)P/Tlessthan8hoursp/w -0.218 (0.445)Notworking -0.051 (0.084)Constant -0.253 -0.058 0.006 -0.312 0.010 (0.136) (0.055) (0.077) (0.198) (0.065)N 4158 4158 4158 3661 4147Log-likelihood -4561.03 -4566.16 -4559.85 -3992.07 -4553.33*p<0.05,**p<0.01,***p<0.001
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TableA7:SWE-treatmentgroupbalance (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Age Gender Pastvote Education Workstatus b/se b/se b/se b/se b/seNegativeframegroup Age -0.002 (0.004) Male -0.173 (0.117) Moderates(ref.) CentreParty -0.063 (0.359) Liberals -0.385 (0.285) ChristianDemocrats -0.100 (0.337) Greens 0.041 (0.275) SocialDemocrats 0.042 (0.185) LeftParty 0.068 (0.277) FeministInitiative -0.007 (0.352) SwedenDemocrats 0.146 (0.187) Other -0.076 (0.490) Non-voter -0.285 (0.359) Noneoftheabove -0.121 (0.469) Norighttovote 0.519 (0.342) Don’tknow -0.202 (0.487) Don’twanttosay 0.163 (0.254) Elementaryschool(ref.) Secondaryschool 0.099 (0.239) Post-secondary -0.304 (0.316) Post-secondaryvocational 0.253 (0.288) University,1-2years -0.166 (0.290) University,3-4years -0.280 (0.250)
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University,5yearsormore
-0.133
(0.272) Doctorate 0.298 (0.533) Rathernotsay -0.140 (0.661) Workingfull-time -0.029 (0.326)Workingpart-time(8-29hours)
-0.113
(0.324)Workingpart-time(lessthan8hours)
-0.616
(0.342)Student 0.248 (0.289)Pensioner -0.080 (0.330)Seekingwork 0.027 (0.442)Doesnotworkatall -0.274 (0.605)Constant 0.016 0.016 -0.093 -0.017 -0.012 (0.181) (0.082) (0.136) (0.216) (0.323)Positiveframegroup Age -0.003 (0.004) Male 0.023 (0.117) Moderates(ref.) CentreParty 0.036 (0.336) Liberals -0.220 (0.273) ChristianDemocrats -0.535 (0.362) Greens -0.046 (0.269) SocialDemocrats -0.061 (0.183) LeftParty 0.231 (0.261) FeministInitiative -0.586 (0.393) SwedenDemocrats -0.171 (0.189) Other 0.054 (0.680)
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Non-voter 0.014 (0.334) Noneoftheabove 0.291 (0.415) Norighttovote 0.383 (0.349) Don’tknow -0.855 (0.559) Don’twanttosay -0.127 (0.259) Elementaryschool(ref.) Secondaryschool -0.039 (0.242) Post-secondary -0.244 (0.313) Post-secondaryvocational 0.253 (0.293) University,1-2years 0.041 (0.287) University,3-4years 0.242 (0.246) University,5yearsormore
0.138
(0.269) Doctorate -0.052 (0.628) Rathernotsay 0.185 (0.681) Workingfull-time -0.180 (0.322)Workingpart-time(8-29hours)
-0.274
(0.316)Workingpart-time(lessthan8hours)
-0.974**
(0.321)Student 0.436 (0.291)Pensioner -0.094 (0.331)Seekingwork 0.207 (0.431)Doesnotworkatall -0.021 (0.583)Constant 0.112 -0.036 0.036 -0.100 0.114 (0.182) (0.083) (0.134) (0.216) (0.318)N 2001 2001 2001 2001 2001Log-likelihood -2229.086 -2227.605 -2217.779 -2215.945 -2217.863*p<0.05,**p<0.01,***p<0.001
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TableA8:UK-treatmentgroupbalance (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Age Gender Pastvote Education Work
status b/se b/se b/se b/se b/seNegativeframegroup Age 0.000 (0.003) Female -0.063 (0.095) Conservative(ref.) Labour 0.173 (0.111) LiberalDemocrat 0.064 (0.195) ScottishNationalParty(SNP) 0.046 (0.235) PlaidCymru 0.127 (0.667) UKIndependenceParty(UKIP)
-0.424
(0.367) Green -0.055 (0.320) Other 0.330 (0.390) Don’tknow 0.170 (0.521) NotAsked 0.120 (0.170) Noqualifications(ref.) Vocational -0.308 (0.252) Secondary -0.357 (0.222) Tertiary -0.244 (0.214) Don’tknow 0.203 (0.338) Workingfull-time(ref.) Workingparttime(8-29hoursaweek)
-0.119
(0.144)Workingparttime(Lessthan8hoursaweek)
0.152
(0.387)Fulltimestudent -0.192 (0.214)Retired -0.066
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(0.120)Unemployed 0.409 (0.316)Notworking 0.244 (0.185)Constant -0.024 0.031 -0.085 0.254 0.004 (0.145) (0.070) (0.080) (0.204) (0.074)Positiveframegroup Age 0.001 (0.003) Female -0.105 (0.095) Conservative(ref.) Labour -0.011 (0.111) LiberalDemocrat -0.001 (0.189) ScottishNationalParty(SNP) -0.444 (0.264) PlaidCymru -0.038 (0.693) UKIndependenceParty(UKIP)
-0.108
(0.352) Green -0.622 (0.404) Other 0.074 (0.428) Don’tknow -0.221 (0.524) NotAsked 0.240 (0.163) Noqualifications(ref.) Vocational 0.096 (0.257) Secondary -0.029 (0.229) Tertiary -0.186 (0.224) Don’tknow 0.325 (0.352) Workingfull-time(ref.) Workingparttime(8-29hoursaweek)
-0.284
(0.153)Workingparttime(Lessthan8hoursaweek)
0.349
(0.406)Fulltimestudent 0.035
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(0.208)Retired 0.041 (0.119)Unemployed 0.534 (0.296)Notworking 0.034 (0.184)Constant -0.060 0.028 -0.030 0.045 -0.027 (0.147) (0.070) (0.078) (0.214) (0.075)N 3269 3269 3269 3269 3191Log-likelihood -3538.654 -3537.951 -3528.958 -3529.402 -3446.214*p<0.05,**p<0.01,***p<0.001Note:Althoughtherearesomesignificantresultsinthesetables,forexample,35-44-year-oldsinGermanyaremorelikelytobeinthepositiveframegroup,thesedonotaffectourresultsascanbeseenwhenwecontrolforthesevariables(seeTableA1).
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TableA9.Descriptivestatistics–Germany(%) Negativeframe Positiveframe ControlgroupAge 18-24 8.8 7.8 9.525-34 14.6 17 16.335-44 14.4 15.2 13.345-54 18.3 16.5 18.8Over55 44.1 43.5 42.1 Male 47.2 49 50.3Female 52.8 51 49.7 Pastvote CDU/CSU 28.2 25.4 24.6SPD 18.1 17.9 20.6DieLinke 6.6 6.5 6.6Grüne 7.1 6 6.3FDP 4.3 3.4 3.2AfD 3.8 3.6 2.9Other 3.7 4.9 4.6Non-voter 28.3 32.4 31.1 Noqualifications 3.7 3.8 4.4Stilltraining 2.4 3.2 2.6Stillstudying 44.8 4.6 4Vocationaldegree 59.1 61.5 59.6Universitydegree 30 26.9 29.4 Full-time 38.04 37.06 35.7P/T8-29hoursp/w 8.71 8.36 9.25P/Tlessthan8hoursp/w 0.89 0.72 0.85Notworking 52.36 53.86 54.2 Anti-welfare No 49.5 53.3 52.9Yes 50.5 46.7 47.1 Anti-immigration No 74.4 75.1 77Yes 25.6 24.9 23 Economicallysecure Yes 64 62 60No 36 38 40TableA10.Descriptivestatistics–Sweden(%) Negativeframe Positiveframe ControlgroupAge(mean) 45.9 46.3 46.7
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Male 49.2 53.3 53Female 50.8 46.7 47 Pastvote Moderates 16.4 17.5 17.1CentreParty 2.8 3.6 3.5Liberals 4.9 6.2 6.1ChristianDemocrats 3.1 2.3 3.7Greens 5.5 5.7 5.6SocialDemocrats 19.8 19.9 20.2LeftParty 5.7 7.7 5.4FeministInitiative 3.2 2.1 3.5SwedenDemocrats 20.9 17.2 18.1Other 1.5 1.2 1.5Non-voter 2.6 3.8 3.2Noneoftheabove 1.4 2.4 1.8Norighttovote 4.1 3.8 2.6Don’tknow 1.2 0.8 1.6Don’twanttosay 6.9 6 6.3 Elementaryschool(ref.) 7.06 6.78 7.3Secondaryschool 33.9 26.36 31.09Post-secondary 5.83 6.02 7.3Post-secondaryvocational 10.43 9.04 8.03University,1-2years 8.74 9.64 9.2University,3-4years 19.63 26.51 22.04University,5yearsormore 11.81 14.01 12.85Doctorate 1.84 0.9 1.31Rathernotsay 0.77 0.75 0.88 Workingfull-time 54.6 49 48.8Workingpart-time(8-29hours) 10.4 10.1 11.5Workingpart-time(lessthan8hours) 4.1 3.8 6.7Student 9.2 11.6 8.8Pensioner 16.9 19.6 19.3Seekingwork 3.7 4.5 3.7Doesnotworkatall 1.1 1.4 1.2 Anti-welfare No 57.8 63.3 60Yes 42.2 36.7 40 Anti-immigration No 69.6 66 71.2Yes 30.4 34 28.8
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Economicallysecure Yes 64.7 61.7 61.8No 35.3 38.3 38.2TableA11.Descriptivestatistics–UK(%) Negativeframe Positiveframe ControlgroupAge(mean) 48.2 48.5 48.1 Male 45.4 46.2 45.8Female 54.6 53.8 54.2 Pastvote2017 Conservative 32.2 36 34.8Labour 38.8 36 36.4LibDem 7.2 7.5 7.1ScotsNats. 4.3 2.7 4.1PlaidCymru 0.6 0.6 0.5UKIP 1.5 2 2.2Green 2.1 1 2.1Other 1.6 1.2 1.2Don'tknow 1.2 1 0.8Notasked 10.4 12.2 10.9 Noqualifications 6.8 5.7 4.78Vocational 10.3 12.04 10.46Secondary 29.6 34.08 32.46Tertiary 49.8 45 49.59Don'tknow 3.6 3.17 2.71 Workingfulltime 41.77 40.88 41.54Workingparttime(8-29hoursaweek) 14.68 11.94 15.17Workingparttime(Lessthan8hours) 1.98 1.91 1.3Fulltimestudent 5.64 6.59 6.66Retired 23.8 26.55 25.35Unemployed 3.48 3.72 2.5Notworking 8.65 8.4 7.49 Anti-welfare No 60 62.6 59.6Yes 40 37.4 40.4 Anti-immigration No 67.9 66.2 67.6Yes 32.1 33.8 32.3
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Economicallysecure Yes 54.7 51.9 56.6No 45.3 48.1 43.4
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TableA12.Theeffectofframingandnewspaperreadership Germany Sweden UKNoFrame(ref.) Negativeframe -0.342***
(0.083).9897***(.2842)
-.5545***(.1039)
Positiveframe -0.114(0.0879)
-.2619(.2505)
-.1169(.1025)
Anti-immigrationpapers 0.013(0.120)
-.4339***(.1467)
Negativeframe*anti-immigrationpapers -0.120(0.178)
-.3787(.2138)
Positiveframe*anti-immigrationpapers -0.092(0.167)
-.0801(.1972)
Expressen .0226(.0959)
Goteborg’sPosten .0506(.0873)
SvenskaDagbladet -.1100(.0937)
NegativeframeXExpressen -.0440(.1331)
PositiveframeXExpressen -.0078(.1252)
NegativeframeXGoteborg’sPosten .1109(.1156)
PositiveframeXGoteborg’sPosten .0678(.1095)
NegativeframeXSvenskaDagbladet .0906(.1208)
PositiveframeXSvenskaDagbladet -.0422(.1252)
Cut1 -0.594***(0.058)
-.5942(.1768)
-1.0598(.0774)
Cut2 0.720***(0.058)
.6920(.1784)
-.0156(.0734)
N 4,158 2001 3269Log-likelihood -4518.664 -2152.365 -3401.008*P<0.05,**p<0.01,***p<0.001Note:DataonnewspaperreadershipinSwedenisonascale0-7forhowmanydaysperweekrespondentsreadaparticularpaper.Thethreepapersherewereselectedasbeingmoreassociatedwithanti-immigrationmessages.
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EthicalconsiderationsThisprojectwasassessedas“minimalrisk”followingtheriskassessmenttoolat[universitynameredactedforreview].TheResearchEthicsNumberfortheprojectisMR/16/17-370[Note:theofficialletterofconfirmationcontainsdetailsoftheresearcherwhichwouldcompromisetheanonymityofthereviewprocess.Thiscanbeprovidedtotheeditoronrequest].Theprincipalethicalconsiderationwiththeprojectwaswhetherdeceptionwouldbeusedineitherthenegativeorpositiveframes.However,oneofthepremisesoftheprojectisthattheimpactofmigrantsonpublicfinancesiscontestable.Beforefieldingtheexperiments,weensuredthatresearchexistedthatwouldsupporttheinterpretationofboththenegativeandpositiveframesineachcountry.Putsimply,wefoundcredibleresearchthatcouldsupportthepropositionthatmigrantswereanetcosttothepublicpurseandnetcontributorsineachcountry.Asaresult,neithertherespondentsinthenegativenorthepositivegroupweregivenfalseinformation.Someofthestudiesusedastheevidentialbasisfortheframesineachcountryareprovidedbelow.Nevertheless,allrespondentsineachcountrywerealsoinformedbyYouGovimmediatelyafterthesurveythatthequestionsrelatingtothisresearchwerepartofanacademicexperiment.GermanyPositiveframe:FiskalischeWirkungenderZuwanderung(2015).InstitutfuerArbeitsmarktundBerufsforschungderBundesagenturfuerArbeit,Nuernberg,6/2015.Negativeframe:Hans-WernerSinn(2016)Sokannesnichtweitergehen.IfoSchnelldienst69(4):3-6.OECD(2013)ThefiscalimpactofimmigrationinOECDcountries,InternationalMigrationOutlook2013,OECDPublishing,ParisSwedenPositiveframe:OECD(2013)ThefiscalimpactofimmigrationinOECDcountries,InternationalMigrationOutlook2013,OECDPublishing,ParisNegativeframe:Ruist,J.(2015)Thefiscalcostofrefugeeimmigration:TheexampleofSweden,PopulationandDevelopmentReview,41(4),pp567-581UnitedKingdomPositiveframe:Dustmann,C.andFrattini,T.(2014)ThefiscaleffectsofimmigrationtotheUK,TheEconomicJournal,124(580),ppF593-F643
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Negativeframe:MigrationWatch(2014)AnAssessmentoftheFiscalImpactofImmigrationtotheUK,MigrationWatchUK,LondonAnoverviewofstudiesshowingbothnegativeandpositivefiscalimpactofimmigrationintheUKcanbefoundathttps://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/the-fiscal-impact-of-immigration-in-the-uk/
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