The Stability of Not-In-My-Backyard Attitudes toward Refugees: Evidence from the Ukrainian Refugee Crisis

Abstract

To what extent has the Ukrainian refugee crisis altered citizens' attitudes toward refugee resettlement? Leveraging data from original repeated surveys of citizens in the ten countries with the largest refugee resettlement programs, we examine changes in public opinion before and after the crisis. Our findings reveal a substantial increase in support for refugee resettlement during the crisis as compared to the pre-crisis period. Nevertheless, we find that collective action problems surrounding refugee resettlement programs are likely to persist. In all ten countries, citizens who support resettlement in a general sense are significantly less supportive of resettlement within their own country or local community. We further show that these "not-in-my-backyard" (NIMBY) attitudes toward refugees are nearly universal, and are consistent across countries as well as subgroups of individuals with varying ideologies, perceptions of refugees, and socio-demographic backgrounds. These results suggest that it may prove difficult to achieve global coordination on refugee resettlement policy, even in times of heightened public support.

Keywords: refugee resettlement, public opinion, NIMBY, Ukrainian refugee crisis

JEL Classification: J15, J68