TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Levi, Eugenio
AU  - Bayerlein, Michael
AU  - Grimalda, Gianluca
AU  - Reggiani, Tommaso G.
        TI  - Narratives of Migration and Political Polarization: Private Preferences, Public Preferences and Social Media
        PY  - 2025/Mar/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 17749
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp17749
        AB  - We study how preferences for migration-related narratives differ between private and public contexts and how social media fuel opinion polarization. Using a German representative sample (n=1,226), we found that individuals, especially from the left and center, avoided publicly endorsing anti-migration narratives. In an experiment on Twitter (n=19,989) we created four Twitter profiles, each endorsing one of the narratives. Far-right users exhibited markedly different engagement patterns. While initial public endorsements, measured by follow-back rates, aligned with private preferences, social media interactions amplified support for the most hostile and polarizing narrative. We conclude that social media significantly distort private preferences and amplify polarization.
        KW  - immigration
KW  - narratives
KW  - political polarization
KW  - economic reciprocity
KW  - survey experiment
KW  - field experiment
KW  - group identity
KW  - social media
KW  - Twitter
        ER  -