The Spillover of Anti-Immigration Politics to the Schoolyard

Abstract

There has been a resurgence in populist politics, often accompanied by anti-immigrant rhetoric. This may potentially spill over into societal hostility towards immigrants. We use census data on 5th-grade Italian students to estimate the causal effect of anti-immigration politics on school bullying. Using variations in the timing of municipal elections, we demonstrate that where elections occur and the anti-immigration party Lega Nord is highly active, the victimisation of immigrant children increases, while we find no effect where Lega Nord has little support and for native children, suggesting important negative spillovers from politics to the wellbeing of children.