Can student attitudes toward immigration be changed? Evidence from a survey experiment in Croatia

Extreme right-wing parties are increasing in polls around Europe, largely fueled by an anti-migrant rhetoric. Political economy literature points to, on average, net positive effects that migrants bring to the economy, but the balance on the political market is more worrisome. For a small open economy, overly dependent on tourism, whose population reduced by more than 1 million in the last 30 years, the question of successful integration of migrants represents a first order condition of public policy. Thus the research question set in this paper is how to change attitudes on immigration among students in the Croatian society. Our approach is based on an experiment within a survey and it is tested on a sample of 1,450 students from five university cities in Croatia (Osijek, Pula, Rijeka, Split and Zagreb). Results indicate that there is a sizeable and statistically significant effect for the treated groups vis-a-vis their attitudes on the effect that migrants have on the labour market, social security system, overall safety and the economic development of Croatia.