Therese Nilsson
Professor
Economic Freedom and Antisemitism
Author
Summary, in English
We examine how variation in antisemitism across countries can be explained by economic freedom. We propose two mechanisms. First, the more economic freedom, the greater the scope of market activities. If people perceive Jews as particularly skilful at doing business at the expense of others, a greater reliance on markets can increase antisemitism. Second, a key type of institution undergirding the market is an effective and fair legal system, or the rule of law. The stronger the rule of law, the smaller the risk for exploitative behaviour, and the less hostile people will be towards groups seen as exploiters. If Jews are seen as such, more economic freedom reduces antisemitism. We use the ADL Global 100 survey of antisemitic attitudes and relate them, for up to 106 countries, to the Economic Freedom of the World index and its five areas. Our empirical findings confirm the two predictions: The more economic openness, the more antisemitism; and the stronger the rule of law, the less antisemitism. These findings indicate a complex relationship between markets and attitudes towards Jews.
Department/s
- Centre for Economic Demography
- Department of Economics
Publishing year
2021
Language
English
Pages
289-304
Publication/Series
Journal of Institutional Economics
Volume
17
Issue
2
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Topic
- Economics
- Political Science (excluding Public Administration Studies and Globalization Studies)
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1744-1382