The Centre for the Study of Democratic Citizenship presents:
Atelier – Political Economy
When : Friday March 21, 2025, 13h30
Où : Thomson House, , 3650 McTavish , Montreal, Quebec H3A 1Y2
Registration: https://cecdudemscpol.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_dau0rGCq5OD3YWy
Mathilde Emeriau (Sciences Po, Paris)
Title : Long-term Effect of Legal Status on Immigrant Integration: Evidence from a Legalization
I study the effect of legal status on the socio-economic integration of undocumented immigrants in France. Since 2006, undocumented immigrants can apply for a one-year residency permit under exceptional circumstances, loosely defined and left to the discretion of the Préfet. Between 2006 and 2015, more than 200,000 immigrants benefitted from this program, the overwhelming majority for family reasons. How does getting legal status affect their integration trajectory? I combine detailed aggregate data on the demographic characteristics of foreigners legalized between 2006 and 2015 with data from the census and labor force surveys, fiscal, judicial, and civil status. Using a staggered difference-in-differences design, I compare the trajectories of legalized immigrants to that of other immigrants and model unobserved time-varying confounders using the interactive fixed effects (IFE) model. Even when granted for family reasons, legal status yields substantial improvement in the labor market and poverty reduction. Yet, only those who legalized before the age of 35 seem to be reaping these benefits
Rafael Jiminez Duran (Università Bocconi , Milan Italy)
Title: Content Moderation and Echo Chambers
How does the moderation of online content shape who joins online communities and what they say? We answer this question with a preregistered field experiment on Facebook that takes place during the week of the 2024 presidential election. We offer participants the option to join a Facebook group, randomizing the moderation policy and political composition of the group. In the moderation treatment, discussions are moderated for civility above and beyond. Facebook’s default moderation. Groups are either « echo chambers » (composed only of copartisans) or mixed-party (an even split of Democrats and Republicans invited). Moderation decreases participation in echo chambers by 9 percentage points, but increases participation in mixed-party groups by 13 percentage points. We elicit opinions on immigration policy, and ask if we can share these options with the group. Moderation causes participants to be exposed to fewer opposing opinions in echo chambers, but more opposing opinions in mixed-party groups. We find no effect of moderation on turnout, voting decisions, or immigration opinions. However, moderation decreases polarization in echo chambers and increases polarization in mixed-party groups.
Horacio Larreguy (Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México, Mexico, Mexique)
Title : Polarization and Exposure to Counter-Attitudinal Media in a Nondemocracy
Polarization and Exposure to Counter-Attitudinal Media in a Nondemocracy with Ahmet Akbiyik (Harvard University), Jeremy Bowles (UCL), and Shelley Liu (Duke University) Political polarization is an increasing global concern. Although recent research suggests that media has the potential to mitigate polarization through persuasion, it is unclear whether polarized individuals are willing to consume, and be receptive to information from, diverse news sources. This might especially be the case in nondemocracies where many citizens lack familiarity with credible media sources from across the political spectrum, and some are particularly distrustful of government media. We implement a field experiment in Turkey inducing citizens’ exposure to politically non-aligned online media sources over seven months. Exposure to cross-partisan media outlets increased participants’ consumption of their assigned outlets across the board, but the effects on political attitudes varied based on treatment. Although there was a backlash in the short term, assignment to pro-government media sources led to positive appraisals and voting intentions towards the ruling party in the long term. In contrast, assignment to anti-government media sources positively affected attitudes but not vote intention towards the opposition both in the short and long term. Finally, affective polarization did decrease in the short term, but not in the long term.
This series is sponsored by the Centre for the Study of Democratic Citizenship, which is funded by the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et culture (FRQSC).