Immigration and public attitudes towards social assistance : evidence from Hong Kong

Shen YANG; Bo MIAO; Alfred M. WU

doi:10.1080/17487870.2020.1760102

Immigration and public attitudes towards social assistance : evidence from Hong Kong

Shen YANG^*, Bo MIAO, Alfred M. WU

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal Publications › Journal Article (refereed) › peer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The paper investigates the puzzling phenomenon of why Hong Kong citizens have much lower support for increasing spending on social assistance when all other welfare programs have been favored by local residents. With a random sampling survey, we find that citizens’ support towards raising the requirement of immigration is negatively correlated with their support for social assistance (the CSSA scheme). This study highlights that the perception of “who benefits” will influence citizens’ support for welfare spending. The Hong Kong story enriches the debate about the impact of citizens’ attitudes towards immigration on welfare spending against a backdrop of deglobalization and anti-immigration.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	28-44
Number of pages	17
Journal	Journal of Economic Policy Reform
Volume	25
Issue number	1
Early online date	13 Jul 2020
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/17487870.2020.1760102
Publication status	Published - 2020
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information: This research was supported by Department of Asian and Policy Studies, Education University of Hong Kong; Shanghai Jiao Tong University Project WF220513006; the Ministry of Education of China Project 18YJC810010.

Keywords

China
deglobalization
Hong Kong
Immigration
poverty
public attitudes

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1080/17487870.2020.1760102Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

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title = "Immigration and public attitudes towards social assistance : evidence from Hong Kong",

abstract = "The paper investigates the puzzling phenomenon of why Hong Kong citizens have much lower support for increasing spending on social assistance when all other welfare programs have been favored by local residents. With a random sampling survey, we find that citizens{\textquoteright} support towards raising the requirement of immigration is negatively correlated with their support for social assistance (the CSSA scheme). This study highlights that the perception of “who benefits” will influence citizens{\textquoteright} support for welfare spending. The Hong Kong story enriches the debate about the impact of citizens{\textquoteright} attitudes towards immigration on welfare spending against a backdrop of deglobalization and anti-immigration.",

keywords = "China, deglobalization, Hong Kong, Immigration, poverty, public attitudes",

author = "Shen YANG and Bo MIAO and WU, {Alfred M.}",

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doi = "10.1080/17487870.2020.1760102",

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AU - YANG, Shen

AU - MIAO, Bo

AU - WU, Alfred M.

N1 - Funding Information: This research was supported by Department of Asian and Policy Studies, Education University of Hong Kong; Shanghai Jiao Tong University Project WF220513006; the Ministry of Education of China Project 18YJC810010.

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - The paper investigates the puzzling phenomenon of why Hong Kong citizens have much lower support for increasing spending on social assistance when all other welfare programs have been favored by local residents. With a random sampling survey, we find that citizens’ support towards raising the requirement of immigration is negatively correlated with their support for social assistance (the CSSA scheme). This study highlights that the perception of “who benefits” will influence citizens’ support for welfare spending. The Hong Kong story enriches the debate about the impact of citizens’ attitudes towards immigration on welfare spending against a backdrop of deglobalization and anti-immigration.

AB - The paper investigates the puzzling phenomenon of why Hong Kong citizens have much lower support for increasing spending on social assistance when all other welfare programs have been favored by local residents. With a random sampling survey, we find that citizens’ support towards raising the requirement of immigration is negatively correlated with their support for social assistance (the CSSA scheme). This study highlights that the perception of “who benefits” will influence citizens’ support for welfare spending. The Hong Kong story enriches the debate about the impact of citizens’ attitudes towards immigration on welfare spending against a backdrop of deglobalization and anti-immigration.

KW - China

KW - deglobalization

KW - Hong Kong

KW - Immigration

KW - poverty

KW - public attitudes

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DO - 10.1080/17487870.2020.1760102

M3 - Journal Article (refereed)

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SN - 1748-7870

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EP - 44

JO - Journal of Economic Policy Reform

JF - Journal of Economic Policy Reform

IS - 1

ER -

Immigration and public attitudes towards social assistance : evidence from Hong Kong

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

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