Growing up in a neighborhood with lots of immigrants actually makes people more likely to be anti-immigrant when they grow up.
SSRN · March 18, 2026 · 6431018
The Takeaway
This finding challenges the 'contact hypothesis,' which suggests that exposure to diversity naturally breeds tolerance. Longitudinal data from Germany shows that early-life exposure to ethnic diversity creates long-lasting negative sentiments that persist for decades, even if the individual moves to a less diverse area as an adult.
From the abstract
We examine the impact of exposure to immigrants during formative years on attitudes toward immigration later on in life. Our research design combines granular administrative data on immigrant shares in Germany with longitudinal individual-level data on immigration sentiment. Using panel fixed-effect estimates, identification leverages both spatial variation at critical ages and time variation induced by birth cohorts. We find that individuals exposed to higher shares of immigrants in formative y