Relative deprivation, relative satisfaction, and attitudes towards immigrants: Evidence from Ukraine

This paper applies the concept of relative deprivation/satisfaction to studying the formation of attitudes towards immigrants. It finds that the feeling of group relative deprivation, as opposed to individual relative deprivation or satisfaction, adversely affects the attitudes of native-born, even when its potential endogeneity is taken into account. Furthermore, relative deprivation matters only for native-born who subjectively underestimate their well-being, but not for those who overestimate it. When considering other forms of native-born individuals' perceived disadvantage, such as in terms of employment, access to education or medical facilities, there is weak evidence that only a perceived disadvantage in obtaining medical aid negatively affects attitudes.

Research highlights► Group relative deprivation adversely affects attitudes towards immigrants. ► This finding is robust to accounting for endogeneity of relative deprivation. ► Relative deprivation matters only for those who underestimate their well-being. ► Perceived deprivation in terms of medical aid also predicts attitudes.