The framing effects of COVID-19 on ethnic intolerance: evidence from Romania

ABSTRACT Studies of tolerance often employ an ethnic lens. Reports of increasing anti-Chinese racism during the pandemic is evidence. Yet, COVID-19 is a global pandemic. How the disease is framed matters. We employ a survey experiment in Romania – where there is a large Chinese population and an even larger Romanian migrant population – to show that when primed about COVID-19, people responded with Chinese exclusion – a result consistent with the ethnic politics literature. But surprisingly, we find no evidence of Romanians cutting their coethnics a break. These results challenge how we think about identities when studying ethnic politics and group (in)tolerance.