%0 Report
        %A Siedler, Thomas
        %T Family and Politics: Does Parental Unemployment Cause Right-Wing Extremism?
        %D 2006
        %8 2006 Oct
        %I Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        %C Bonn
        %7 IZA Discussion Paper
        %N 2411
        %U https://www.iza.org/publications/dp2411
        %X Recent years have witnessed a rise in right-wing extremism among German youth and young adults. This paper investigates the extent to which the experience of parental unemployment during childhood affects young people’s far right-wing attitudes and xenophobia. Estimates from three different German data sets show a positive relationship between growing up with unemployed parents and right-wing extremism, with xenophobia in particular. This paper uses differences in unemployment levels between East and West Germany, both before and after reunification, to investigate a causal relationship. Instrumental variables estimates suggest strong and significant effects of parental unemployment on right-wing extremism. This is consistent with classical theories of economic interest and voting behaviour which predict that persons who develop feelings of economic insecurity are more susceptible to right-wing extremism and anti-foreign sentiments.
        %K intergenerational links
%K instrumental variable
%K unemployment
%K right-wing extremism
%K panel estimators
%K matching