Policy Research Working Paper Series The World Bank
Resumen
How do crises shape native attitudes towards migrants A common threat could pro-duce an empathychannel among natives, but the perception of competition for scarce economic resources could just as easily sparkprejudice through a resentment channel. 3,400 Colombian citizens were surveyed and randomly primed to consider theeconomic consequences of COVID-19 before eliciting their attitudes towards Venezuelan migrants. The findings suggestthat native attitudes towards migrants are substantially more suggestive of the resentment channel in the treatmentgroup. However, respondents in the so-called impressionable years—ages 18 to 25—showed more altruism towards migrantsafter priming. Interestingly, both effects disappear in response to positive news.
