Bordering on passage
The Dynamics of Immigration Opinion in the United States, 1992-2012
Christopher Muste
Public Opinion Quarterly, forthcoming
Abstract:
Integrating trend data from ANES, GSS, Gallup, Pew, and media surveys from 1992 to 2012, this article updates and extends previous Poll Trends analyses of public opinion about immigration levels, the impacts of recent immigrants, and immigration policies. The combined data demonstrate continued negativity and ambivalence, consistent with earlier reviews, and reveal a pattern of rapid, steep increases in anti-immigrant sentiment in response to events such as the 1994 election and 9/11, followed by declines over several years that stabilize at lower levels. Since 2001, opinions about most aspects of immigration have become less volatile, and consistent differentiation in opinion has emerged. Concerns about job competition and border enforcement are high, whereas fears about other immigration impacts have declined or stabilized and support for deporting illegal immigrants already in the United States is low. To improve understanding of trends in immigration opinion, survey questions about immigration must be asked more often and more consistently.
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Race, Legality, and the Social Policy Consequences of Anti-Immigration Mobilization
Hana Brown
American Sociological Review, April 2013, Pages 290-314
Abstract:
With the dramatic rise in the U.S. Hispanic population, scholars have struggled to explain how race affects welfare state development beyond the Black-White divide. This article uses a comparative analysis of welfare reforms in California and Arizona to examine how anti-Hispanic stereotypes affect social policy formation. Drawing on interviews, archival materials, and newspaper content analysis, I find that animus toward Hispanics is mobilized through two collective action frames: a legality frame and a racial frame. The legality frame lauds the contributions of documented noncitizens while demonizing illegal immigrants. The racial frame celebrates the moral worth of White citizens and uses explicit racial language to deride Hispanics as undeserving. These subtle differences in racialization and worth attribution create divergent political opportunities for welfare policy. When advocates employ the legality frame, they create openings for rights claims by documented noncitizens. Use of the racial frame, however, dampens cross-racial mobilization and effective claims-making for expansive welfare policies. These findings help to explain why the relationship between race and welfare policy is less predictable for Hispanics than for Blacks. They also reveal surprising ways in which race and immigration affect contemporary politics and political mobilization.
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Racial Threat and White Opposition to Bilingual Education in Texas
Lynn Hempel et al.
Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, February 2013, Pages 85-102
Abstract:
This study examines local contextual conditions that influence opposition to bilingual education among non-Hispanic Whites, net of individual-level characteristics. Data from the Texas Poll (N = 615) are used in conjunction with U.S. Census data to test five competing hypotheses using binomial and multinomial logistic regression models. Our results support a "racial threat" hypothesis, suggesting that increasing opposition to bilingual education among Whites corresponds to changes in the Hispanic population. We find opposition to bilingual education among non-Hispanic Whites to be most pronounced in areas with substantial growth in an already sizeable Hispanic population, and least pronounced in areas of high growth rates and historically low proportions of Hispanics. Importantly, our results highlight the relevance of the interaction between minority group size and minority growth rates in generating majority opposition to bilingual education programs in the United States.
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Henrik Jacobsen Kleven et al.
NBER Working Paper, March 2013
Abstract:
This paper analyzes the effects of income taxation on the international migration and earnings of top earners using a Danish preferential foreigner tax scheme and population-wide Danish administrative data. This scheme, introduced in 1991, allows new immigrants with high earnings to be taxed at a preferential flat rate for a duration of three years. We obtain three main results. First, the scheme has doubled the number of highly paid foreigners in Denmark relative to slightly less paid ineligible foreigners, which translates into a very large elasticity of migration with respect to the net-of-tax rate on foreigners, between 1.5 and 2. Hence, preferential tax schemes for highly paid foreign workers could create severe tax competition between countries. Second, we find compelling evidence of a negative effect of scheme-induced increases in the net-of-tax rate on pre-tax earnings at the individual level. This finding cannot be explained by the standard labor supply model where pay equals marginal productivity, but it can be rationalized by a matching frictions model with wage bargaining where there is a gap between pay and marginal productivity. Third, we find no evidence of positive or negative spillovers of the scheme-induced influx of high-skilled foreigners on the earnings of highly paid natives.
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Who Gets a Swiss Passport? A Natural Experiment in Immigrant Discrimination
Jens Hainmueller & Dominik Hangartner
American Political Science Review, February 2013, Pages 159-187
Abstract:
We study discrimination against immigrants using microlevel data from Switzerland, where, until recently, some municipalities used referendums to decide on the citizenship applications of foreign residents. We show that naturalization decisions vary dramatically with immigrants' attributes, which we collect from official applicant descriptions that voters received before each referendum. Country of origin determines naturalization success more than any other applicant characteristic, including language skills, integration status, and economic credentials. The average proportion of "no" votes is about 40% higher for applicants from (the former) Yugoslavia and Turkey compared to observably similar applicants from richer northern and western European countries. Statistical and taste-based discrimination contribute to varying naturalization success; the rewards for economic credentials are higher for applicants from disadvantaged origins, and origin-based discrimination is much stronger in more xenophobic municipalities. Moreover, discrimination against specific immigrant groups responds dynamically to changes in the groups' relative size.
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Wage Effects of High-Skilled Migration: International Evidence
Volker Grossmann & David Stadelmann
World Bank Economic Review, forthcoming
Abstract:
The international migration of high-skilled workers may trigger productivity effects at the macro level such that the wage rate of skilled workers increases in host countries and decreases in source countries. We exploit data on international bilateral migration flows and provide evidence consistent with this theoretical hypothesis. We propose various instrumentation strategies to identify the causal effect of skilled migration on log differences of GDP per capita, total factor productivity, and the wages of skilled workers between pairs of source and destination countries. These strategies aim to address the endogeneity problem that arises when international wage differences affect migration decisions.
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Peter Dixon, Maureen Rimmer & Bryan Roberts
Contemporary Economic Policy, forthcoming
Abstract:
This paper builds on earlier work that used a general-equilibrium model to show that reducing employment of unauthorized immigrants in the United States through a tighter border-security policy lowers the average income of legal residents. Here we exploit further the detail available in the general-equilibrium model to look at distributional effects, recognizing that the policy increases wage rates for low-paid legal workers. We assess the social welfare effect on legal workers using a constant elasticity of substitution social welfare function. We contrast our general-equilibrium approach to immigration analysis with the more commonly used partial-equilibrium, econometric approach.
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Choice of Country by the Foreign Born for PhD and Postdoctoral Study: A Sixteen-Country Perspective
Paula Stephan, Chiara Franzoni & Giuseppe Scellato
NBER Working Paper, February 2013
Abstract:
We analyze the decisions of foreign-born PhD and postdoctoral trainees to come to the United States vs. go to another country for training. Data are drawn from the GlobSci survey of scientists in sixteen countries working in four fields. We find that individuals come to the U.S. to train because of the prestige of its programs and/or career prospects. They are discouraged from training in the United States because of the perceived lifestyle. The availability of exchange programs elsewhere discourages coming for PhD study; the relative unattractiveness of fringe benefits discourages coming for postdoctoral study. Countries that have been nibbling at the U.S.-PhD and postdoc share are Australia, Germany, and Switzerland; France and Great Britain have gained appeal in attracting postdocs, but not in attracting PhD students. Canada has made gains in neither.
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Immigration and Wealth Inequality in Old Age: The Case of Israel
Noah Lewin-Epstein & Moshe Semyonov
Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, forthcoming
Abstract:
Relatively little research has been devoted to the long term implications of immigration for the accumulation of household wealth. This accumulation has significance both for the well-being in old age and for intergenerational transmission of advantage and disadvantage. Our study addresses the nativity wealth gap and examines its sources. Data for the analysis were obtained from the SHARE-Israel study conducted in 2005-06. Our sample includes 1,366 Jewish households, either native-born or immigrant. We use OLS regression to estimate the nativity wealth gap and arrive at a number of noteworthy findings. First, immigrant-native disparities are large and do not disappear even after many decades of residence. Second, an important source of the disparity in accumulated household wealth is the fact that immigrants are considerably less likely than natives to have received a substantial inheritance. Third, wealth is strongly related to household income and more so among some immigrant groups than among natives. Fourth, there is substantial variation in the wealth of immigrant groups defined by their geo-cultural origin.
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Linda Berg & Andrea Spehar
Policy Studies, March/April 2013, Pages 142-161
Abstract:
While the free movement of labour in the EU is generally depicted as a positive feature of the single market, it was also controversial in the debate on EU enlargement. Actors opposing enlargement argued that large waves of migrants from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) would 'swamp' Western labour markets, leading to so-called social tourism and increasing xenophobia. Contrary to the developments in other countries, Sweden was one of the only three Member States to immediately open its doors to citizens from the EU accession countries of 2004 and 2007. Sweden has also been one of the few EU countries to actively promote greater liberalisation of labour migration policy for third-country nationals (TCNs) within the EU, and the new Swedish Immigration Law of 2008 dramatically liberalised the TCN labour migration policy and made it more employer-driven. We argue that in order to understand why Sweden has supported increased labour mobility within and from outside of the EU, we need to complement existing explanations by analysing the preferences of the political parties. A two-dimensional analysis focusing on economy and culture provides an understanding of why so-called unholy coalitions of parties in support of liberal labour policies have emerged in Sweden during the 2000s. The article ends with a discussion of lessons learned from the Swedish case and wider implications for rights-based mobility in the EU.
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Binational Marriages in Sweden: Is There an EU Effect?
Karen Haandrikman
Population, Space and Place, forthcoming
Abstract:
This paper explores and explains the partner choice of Swedes in the period 1991-2008. The partner market for Swedes has expanded considerably in the last few decades, because of EU expansion, globalisation processes, and an increased diversity of the migrant population. Besides increased opportunities, citizens who are better educated, younger, and more mobile might prefer foreign partners of their own kind. The paper focuses on marriages between Swedish-born and foreign-born partners and distinguishes people with Swedish-born parents from those with foreign-born parents. Using full-population register data, I conducted a systematic comparison between Swedes marrying EU partners and those marrying non-EU partners. I find that the binational marriage rate has increased over time, especially for native Swedish men and men who are second-generation Swedes. The increase is for the greater part attributable to an increase in the number of marriages to partners from outside the EU, whereas binational EU marriages have remained stable with no effects from EU accession. Patterns of binational marriages are highly gender specific: Finland being the most important supplier for foreign husbands, whereas Thai women are most popular amongst men. Against expectation, native Swedes in binational marriages are, by and large, older and less well educated.
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Patricia Greenfield & Blanca Quiroz
Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, March-April 2013, Pages 108-118
Abstract:
We documented cross-cultural similarities and differences in values concerning personal achievement between Latino immigrant parents, a group of multiethnic teachers, and European American parents. We also explored intergenerational similarities and differences between parents and their fifth-grade children. The theoretical premise was that sociodemographic factors, such as education, drive cultural values, with more formal education associated with individualistic values and less formal education associated with collectivistic/familistic values. Responding to open-ended social dilemmas relevant to family life, Latino immigrant parents, averaging a fifth-grade education, responded more familistically than the more highly educated multiethnic teachers or European American parents. In contrast, no group differences in values showed up in situations where school practices do not directly impact family life. Intergenerational differences were few; but, in family-centered scenarios, European American fifth graders were significantly more collectivistic than European American parents, a finding that suggested the possibility that, in an individualistic culture, individualism is socialized with age.
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Openness, Extraversion and the Intention to Emigrate
Damarys Canache et al.
Journal of Research in Personality, August 2013, Pages 351-355
Abstract:
Economic, demographic and sociological factors influence the intention to emigrate, but variation in personality also may be consequential. In this report, data on intention to emigrate are drawn via nationally-representative samples from 22 countries in the Americas. Multivariate analyses permit attention to the key factors identified in past empirical research, but also enable examination of the effects of openness to experience and extraversion. Openness and extraversion both are shown to exert modest positive influence on the intention to emigrate. Additionally, heterogeneity in these effects is observed in that the influence of both traits is found to be conditional on a respondent's level of education.
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Matthew Sanderson
Social Science Research, May 2013, Pages 683-697
Abstract:
This paper empirically assesses how immigration affects international inequality by testing the relationship between immigration and national economic development across countries in different world income groups. A series of cross-national, longitudinal analyses demonstrate that, on average, immigration has a rather small, but positive long-term effect on development levels. However, the findings also indicate that immigration has a Matthew Effect (Merton, 1968) in the world-economy: immigration disproportionately benefits higher-income countries. Moreover, the wealthiest countries reap the largest gains from immigration. Thus, from the perspective of destination countries, immigration does not appear to be a panacea for international inequality. Instead, the results indicate that immigration actually reproduces, and even exacerbates, international inequality.
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Kim Ebert & Dina Okamoto
Social Forces, forthcoming
Abstract:
Collective action has been examined in studies of worker insurgency, homeless protest, the Civil Rights movement and white backlash against racial minorities. Relatively few studies, however, focus on noncontentious forms of immigrant collective action. Utilizing a new data set comprising over 1,000 immigrant civic events, we examine whether the civic and political environment within metropolitan areas affect civic engagement. Our results indicate that political opportunities and resources did not have uniform effects, but that institutional threats to immigrants deterred civic activity. Furthermore, we find that local restrictive efforts instigated solidarity events, while outreach efforts directed at immigrants facilitated community improvement projects. These findings suggest that conditions intensifying group boundaries between immigrants and natives and encouraging collective efficacy are important predictors of immigrant civic engagement.
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The politics of immigrant policy in the 50 US states, 2005-2011
James Monogan
Journal of Public Policy, April 2013, Pages 35-64
Abstract:
This article asks what shaped immigrant policy in the 50 states between 2005 and 2011. Theoretically, politicians are influenced by electoral considerations as they craft laws. Law-makers consider both current public opinion and how the electorate is likely to change, at least in the near future. Empirically, the article analyses an original dataset on immigrant-related laws enacted by the states with a Bayesian spatial conditionally autoregressive model. The analysis shows that state immigrant policy is affected primarily by legislative professionalism, electoral ideology, state wealth and change in the foreign-born population.
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Attracting Talent: Location Choices of Foreign-Born PhDs in the US
Jeffrey Grogger & Gordon Hanson
NBER Working Paper, February 2013
Abstract:
We use data from the NSF Survey of Earned Doctorates to examine the post-degree location choices of foreign-born students receiving PhDs from US universities in science and engineering. Over the period 1960 to 2008, 77% of foreign-born S&E PhDs state that they plan to stay in the United States. The foreign students more likely to stay in the US are those with stronger academic ability, measured in terms of parental educational attainment and the student's success in obtaining graduate fellowships. Foreign students staying in the United States thus appear to be positively selected in terms of academic ability. We also find that foreign students are more likely to stay in the United States if in recent years the US economy has had strong GDP growth or the birth country of the foreign student has had weak GDP growth. Foreign students are less likely to remain in the US if they are from countries with higher average income levels or that have recently democratized. Education and innovation may therefore be part of a virtuous cycle in which education enhances prospects for innovation in low-income countries and innovation makes residing in these countries more attractive for scientists and engineers.