Replication Data for: "Migrant Care Workers in the Middle-Class Families: Immigration and Redistribution Preferences"

Existing studies have argued that immigrants reduce locals’ support for redistribution by undermining the perceived ethnic homogeneity of the country. In this paper, we suggest an alternative account for the relationship between immigration and redistribution by focusing on the often neglected role of migrants as care service providers. We argue that an increasing supply of migrant domestic care workers diminishes support for redistribution and public services among the middle and upper-middle class by enabling them to opt for private care services. Our argument provides an alternative mechanism that can explain Rueda (2018)’s empirical findings that immigration reduces support for redistribution primarily among the rich. In our replication analysis, we first show that the expected pattern of support for redistribution occurs only in countries with large migrant care markets. Furthermore, by subcategorizing social policies into unemployment benefits and child-care policy and analyzing individuals' preferences towards them, we find evidence that supports our alternative mechanism, alongside that proposed by Rueda(2018).