[go: up one dir, main page]
More Web Proxy on the site http://driver.im/
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/qmw/qmwecw/733.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Understanding the Role of Immigrants’ Legal Status: Evidence from Policy Experiments

Author

Listed:
  • Francesco Fasani

    (Queen Mary University of London, CReAM and IZA)

Abstract
Programs aimed at reducing the presence of unauthorised immigrants are often at the core of the migration policy debate in host countries. In recent years, a growing body of empirical literature has attempted to understand the effect of lacking legal status on immigrants' outcomes and behaviour. The main difficulties in this field are the scarcity of data and the identification challenge posed by endogenous selection into legal status. The vast majority of these articles have therefore used amnesty programs (or similar policy changes) to establish causal relationships. In this paper, we propose a first systematic review of the empirical literature for the US and Europe on the impact of legal status on different immigrants' outcomes. We then present some new evidence of the relationship between labour market outcomes and legal status in the Italian context. In our empirical analysis, we first provide some descriptive evidence on differences in the outcomes for groups with different residence statuses, and we then exploit a specific amnesty programme to produce causal estimates of the impact of legal status. Our results confirm previous findings in the literature and show that the design of the specific amnesty analysed matters in shaping its effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Francesco Fasani, 2014. "Understanding the Role of Immigrants’ Legal Status: Evidence from Policy Experiments," Working Papers 733, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    • Handle: RePEc:qmw:qmwecw:733
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.qmul.ac.uk/sef/media/econ/research/workingpapers/2014/items/wp733.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Neeraj Kaushal, 2006. "Amnesty Programs and the Labor Market Outcomes of Undocumented Workers," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 41(3).
    2. Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina & Mazzolari, Francesca, 2010. "Remittances to Latin America from migrants in the United States: Assessing the impact of amnesty programs," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(2), pages 323-335, March.
    3. Milo Bianchi & Paolo Buonanno & Paolo Pinotti, 2012. "Do Immigrants Cause Crime?," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 10(6), pages 1318-1347, December.
    4. Magnus Lofstrom & Laura Hill & Joseph Hayes, 2013. "Wage And Mobility Effects Of Legalization: Evidence From The New Immigrant Survey," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(1), pages 171-197, February.
    5. Carlo Devillanova & Francesco Fasani & Tommaso Frattini, 2014. "Employment of Undocumented Immigrants and the Prospect of Legal Status: Evidence from an Amnesty Program," Development Working Papers 367, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano, revised 26 Jun 2014.
    6. Joseph G. Altonji & David Card, 1991. "The Effects of Immigration on the Labor Market Outcomes of Less-skilled Natives," NBER Chapters, in: Immigration, Trade, and the Labor Market, pages 201-234, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. repec:dau:papers:123456789/5382 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Francisco L. Rivera-Batiz, 1999. "Undocumented workers in the labor market: An analysis of the earnings of legal and illegal Mexican immigrants in the United States," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 12(1), pages 91-116.
    9. Francesca Mazzolari, 2009. "Dual citizenship rights: do they make more and richer citizens?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 46(1), pages 169-191, February.
    10. Francesco Fasani, 2018. "Immigrant crime and legal status: evidence from repeated amnesty programs," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 18(4), pages 887-914.
    11. Kristin F. Butcher & Anne Morrison Piehl, 1998. "Cross-city evidence on the relationship between immigration and crime," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(3), pages 457-493.
    12. David J. McKenzie & Johan Mistiaen, 2009. "Surveying migrant households: a comparison of census‐based, snowball and intercept point surveys," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 172(2), pages 339-360, April.
    13. Pia Orrenius & Madeline Zavodny & Emily Kerr, 2012. "Chinese Immigrants in the U.S. Labor Market: Effects of Post-Tiananmen Immigration Policy," International Migration Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(2), pages 456-482, June.
    14. Bernt Bratsberg & James F. Ragan & Zafar M. Nasir, 2002. "The Effect of Naturalization on Wage Growth: A Panel Study of Young Male Immigrants," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 20(3), pages 568-597, July.
    15. Abowd, John M. & Freeman, Richard B. (ed.), 1991. "Immigration, Trade, and the Labor Market," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226000954, August.
    16. Christian Dustmann & Francesco Fasani & Biagio Speciale, 2017. "Illegal Migration and Consumption Behavior of Immigrant Households," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 15(3), pages 654-691.
    17. Antonio Accetturo & Luigi Infante, 2010. "Immigrant Earnings in the Italian Labour Market," Giornale degli Economisti, GDE (Giornale degli Economisti e Annali di Economia), Bocconi University, vol. 69(1), pages 1-28, April.
    18. Silvia Helena Barcellos, 2010. "Legalization and the Economic Status of Immigrants," Working Papers 754, RAND Corporation.
    19. Ying Pan, 2012. "The Impact of Legal Status on Immigrants’ Earnings and Human Capital: Evidence from the IRCA 1986," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 33(2), pages 119-142, June.
    20. Breno Sampaio & Gustavo Ramos Sampaio & Yony Sampaio, 2013. "On Estimating the Effects of Immigrant Legalization: Do U.S. Agricultural Workers Really Benefit?," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 95(4), pages 932-948.
    21. Brian Bell & Francesco Fasani & Stephen Machin, 2013. "Crime and Immigration: Evidence from Large Immigrant Waves," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(4), pages 1278-1290, October.
    22. Sherrie A. Kossoudji & Deborah A. Cobb-Clark, 2000. "IRCA's impact on the occupational concentration and mobility of newly-legalized Mexican men," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 13(1), pages 81-98.
    23. Scott Baker, 2010. "Effects of Legal Status and Health Service Availability on Mortality," Discussion Papers 09-018, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.
    24. Sherrie A. Kossoudji & Deborah A. Cobb-Clark, 2002. "Coming out of the Shadows: Learning about Legal Status and Wages from the Legalized Population," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 20(3), pages 598-628, July.
    25. Lozano, Fernando A. & Sorensen, Todd A., 2011. "The Labor Market Value to Legal Status," IZA Discussion Papers 5492, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    26. Joshua D. Angrist, 1998. "Estimating the Labor Market Impact of Voluntary Military Service Using Social Security Data on Military Applicants," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 66(2), pages 249-288, March.
    27. Alessandra Casarico & Giovanni Facchini & Tommaso Frattini, 2012. "Spending More is Spending Less: Policy Dilemmas on Irregular Migration," Development Working Papers 330, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano, revised 27 Mar 2012.
    28. Julie L. Hotchkiss & Myriam Quispe-Agnoli, 2009. "Employer monopsony power in the labor market for undocumented workers," FRB Atlanta Working Paper 2009-14, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
    29. Jörg L. Spenkuch, 2014. "Understanding the Impact of Immigration on Crime," American Law and Economics Review, American Law and Economics Association, vol. 16(1), pages 177-219.
    30. Scott Baker, 2013. "Effects of Immigrant Legalization on Crime: The 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act," Discussion Papers 12-012, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.
    31. Silvia Helena Barcellos, 2010. "Legalization and the Economic Status of Immigrants," Working Papers WR-754, RAND Corporation.
    32. Matthew Freedman & Emily Owens & Sarah Bohn, 2018. "Immigration, Employment Opportunities, and Criminal Behavior," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 10(2), pages 117-151, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ivana Fellini & Raffaele Guetto, 2019. "Legal Status and Immigrants’ Labour Market Outcomes: Comparative Evidence from a Quasi-Experiment in Western and Southern Europe," Econometrics Working Papers Archive 2019_11, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Statistica, Informatica, Applicazioni "G. Parenti".
    2. Effrosyni Adamopoulou & Ezgi Kaya, 2020. "Not just a work permit: EU citizenship and the consumption behaviour of documented and undocumented immigrants," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 53(4), pages 1552-1598, November.
    3. Fabio Méndez & Facundo Sepúlveda & Nieves Valdés, 2016. "Legalization and human capital accumulation," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 29(3), pages 721-756, July.
    4. Sergei Guriev & Biagio Speciale & Michele Tuccio, 2019. "How do Regulated and Unregulated Labor Markets Respond to Shocks? Evidence from Immigrants During the Great Recession," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 35(1), pages 37-76.
    5. Sankar Mukhopadhyay, 2019. "Legal status and immigrants’ educational investment decisions," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 1-29, March.
    6. Massimiliano Ferraresi, 2022. "The regional (re)allocation of migrants during the Great Lockdown in Italy," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 39(2), pages 403-426, July.
    7. Claire E. Altman & Colleen M. Heflin & Chaegyung Jun & James D. Bachmeier, 2021. "Material Hardship Among Immigrants in the United States: Variation by Citizenship, Legal Status, and Origin in the 1996–2008 SIPP," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 40(3), pages 363-399, June.
    8. Claudio Deiana & Ludovica Giua & Roberto Nisticò, 2021. "Getting Off on the Wrong Foot: The Long-Term Effects of Missing a Large-Scale Amnesty for Immigrant Workers," CSEF Working Papers 625, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy.
    9. Francesco Fasani, 2018. "Immigrant crime and legal status: evidence from repeated amnesty programs," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 18(4), pages 887-914.
    10. Sherrie A. Kossoudji, 2016. "What are the consequences of regularizing undocumented immigrants?," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 296-296, September.
    11. Claudio Deiana & Ludovica Giua & Roberto Nisticò, "undated". "Legalization and Long-Term Outcomes of Immigrant Workers," Development Working Papers 480, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano.
    12. Eric Schuss, 2017. "Substantial Labor Market Effects of the Residency Status: How Important Are Initial Conditions at Arrival for Immigrants?," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 952, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    13. Eric Schuss, 2020. "Substantial Labor Market Effects of the Residency Status," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 993-1026, December.
    14. Elisa Barbiano di Belgiojoso & Livia Elisa Ortensi, 2022. "Who Wants to Become Italian? A Study of Interest in Naturalisation among Foreign Migrants in Italy," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 38(5), pages 1095-1118, December.
    15. Timilsina, Laxman, 2023. "Immigration policy shocks and infant health," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    16. Altangerel, Khulan, 2019. "Essays on immigration policy," Other publications TiSEM 954c6300-249e-496c-8cef-0, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    17. Cris Beauchemin & Marine Haddad & Mamady Cisse & Christelle Nagnonhou & Lucas Ondicolberry & Andreas Priambodo, 2024. "Politique d’immigration, statut légal et fécondité des migrantes : le cas de Mayotte," Working Papers 297, French Institute for Demographic Studies.
    18. Selda Dudu, 2018. "International Migration to Seville," Border Crossing, Transnational Press London, UK, vol. 8(2), pages 355-378, July-Dece.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Francesco Fasani, 2015. "Understanding the Role of Immigrants’ Legal Status: Evidence from Policy Experiments," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo, vol. 61(3-4), pages 722-763.
    2. Carlo Devillanova & Francesco Fasani & Tommaso Frattini, 2014. "Employment of Undocumented Immigrants and the Prospect of Legal Status: Evidence from an Amnesty Program," RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series 1415, Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM).
    3. Altangerel, Khulan, 2019. "Essays on immigration policy," Other publications TiSEM 954c6300-249e-496c-8cef-0, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    4. Giovanni Mastrobuoni & Paolo Pinotti, 2015. "Legal Status and the Criminal Activity of Immigrants," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 7(2), pages 175-206, April.
    5. Francesco Fasani, 2018. "Immigrant crime and legal status: evidence from repeated amnesty programs," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 18(4), pages 887-914.
    6. Paolo Pinotti, 2017. "Clicking on Heaven's Door: The Effect of Immigrant Legalization on Crime," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(1), pages 138-168, January.
    7. Giovanni Mastrobuoni & Paolo Pinotti, 2014. "The Ups and Downs in Women's Employment: Shifting Composition or Behavior from 1970 to 2010?," Upjohn Working Papers 14-212, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    8. Fabio Méndez & Facundo Sepúlveda & Nieves Valdés, 2016. "Legalization and human capital accumulation," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 29(3), pages 721-756, July.
    9. Emanuele Bracco & Luisanna Onnis, 2022. "Immigration, amnesties, and the shadow economy," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(4), pages 1135-1162, October.
    10. Comino, Stefano & Mastrobuoni, Giovanni & Nicolò, Antonio, 2016. "Silence of the Innocents: Illegal Immigrants' Underreporting of Crime and their Victimization," Economics Discussion Papers 17806, University of Essex, Department of Economics.
    11. Eric Schuss, 2017. "Substantial Labor Market Effects of the Residency Status: How Important Are Initial Conditions at Arrival for Immigrants?," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 952, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    12. Stefano Comino & Giovanni Mastrobuoni & Antonio Nicolò, 2020. "Silence of the Innocents: Undocumented Immigrants’ Underreporting of Crime and their Victimization," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(4), pages 1214-1245, September.
    13. Chi, Miao & Drewianka, Scott, 2014. "How much is a green card worth? Evidence from Mexican men who marry women born in the U.S," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 103-116.
    14. Simone Cremaschi & Carlo Devillanova, 2016. "Immigrants and Legal Status: Do Personal Contacts Matter?," RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series 1629, Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM).
    15. Ibanez, Ana Maria & Rozo, Sandra V. & Bahar, Dany, 2020. "Empowering Migrants: Impacts of a Migrant's Amnesty on Crime Reports," IZA Discussion Papers 13889, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Giovanni Mastrobuoni & Paolo Pinotti, 2011. "Legal status of immigrants and criminal behavior: evidence from a natural experiment," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 813, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    17. Cascio, Elizabeth U. & Lewis, Ethan G., 2019. "Distributing the Green (Cards): Permanent residency and personal income taxes after the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 135-150.
    18. Mastrobuoni, Giovanni & Pinotti, Paolo, 2011. "Migration Restrictions and Criminal Behavior: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," Economy and Society 115723, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    19. Dehos, Fabian T., 2021. "The refugee wave to Germany and its impact on crime," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    20. Lonsky, Jakub & Ruiz, Isabel & Vargas-Silva, Carlos, 2022. "Trade networks, heroin markets, and the labor market outcomes of Vietnam veterans," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Illegal migration; Amnesty; Migration policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • K37 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Immigration Law

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:qmw:qmwecw:733. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Nicholas Owen (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deqmwuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.