Does the Scale or Speed of Immigration Generate Nativism? Evidence from a comparison of New Zealand Regions

In this article, the authors look at differences in the prevalence of nativism within New Zealand. Reviewing the literature, they discuss two broad explanations for nativism: concern about economic competition, and perceptions of cultural threat. But the authors are interested in answering the question of what level of immigration triggers anti-immigrant sentiment. They test two hypotheses: 1) Nativist sentiment is strongest in areas where immigrants make up a high proportion of the population; and 2) Nativist sentiment is strongest in areas with high increases in the immigrant population. Analyzing responses from a nationally-distributed survey to gauge the level of nativism, and data from the 2013 and 2018 New Zealand censuses, the authors found a strong correlation between nativism and the rate of growth of the immigrant population between the two censuses. Conversely, the proportion of immigrants in the population was not a strong predictor of nativism. The authors conclude with the observation that nativism may be on the rise in areas of New Zealand experiencing rapid demographic change, but in the long run, nativism may decline as the immigrant population grows and becomes more distributed throughout the country. (Maurice Belanger, Maurice Belanger Associates)

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