Events

We examine the effects of public attitudes toward immigration on investor behavior in the financial advisory industry. We find that minority advisors are more likely to receive complaints in periods of high immigration fear than in other periods when compared with their white peers who work in the same firm and at the same location. The tone of complaints against minority advisors is also more negative in periods of high immigration fear, but there is no evidence that the increased level of allegations is driven by a concurrent increase in misconduct committed by minority advisors. Together, our findings suggest that immigration fear leads to an increased number of unfounded allegations against minority advisors.