Xenophobia? What Xenophobia?

A study in Germany shows that the presence of partially assimilated immigrants increases native Germans’ general satisfaction with life: A 1-standard-deviation rise in the percentage of immigrants in a given region is associated with a 0.142-standard-deviation increase in natives’ subjective well-being, says a team led by Alpaslan Akay of the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. The reasons are unclear but may have to do with natives’ liking to live in a society that includes immigrants who hold jobs and can speak German, the researchers say.