Dream on
Employment and Exile: U.S. Criminal Deportations, 1908-2005
Ryan King, Michael Massoglia & Christopher Uggen
American Journal of Sociology, May 2012, Pages 1786-1825
Abstract:
This study documents and explains historical variation in U.S. criminal deportations. Results from time-series analyses suggest that criminal deportations increase during times of rising unemployment, and this effect is partly mediated by an elevated discourse about immigration and labor. An especially strong association between deportations and unemployment emerges from 1941 through 1986, a period in which the federal law enforcement bureaucracy and deportation laws were well established and judges retained substantial discretion. After 1986, changes in criminal deportation rates mirror the trend in incarceration rates. The study connects the burgeoning sociological literatures on immigration and punishment, revealing a historically contingent effect of labor markets on the criminal deportation of noncitizen offenders.
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The Employment of Low-Skilled Immigrant Men in the United States
Brian Duncan & Stephen Trejo
American Economic Review, May 2012, Pages 549-554
Abstract:
Using microdata from the 2000 Census, we analyze how the employment rates of foreign-born and US-born men vary with education. After a period of adjustment during the first few years upon arrival, the overall employment rate of immigrant men quickly approaches that of US natives. Among those with the lowest education levels, immigrants exhibit substantially higher rates of employment than comparable natives. This pattern is consistent with a simple theoretical model of migrant selectivity that jointly considers a potential migrant's decisions regarding where to locate and whether to work.
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Organizing Identities: Immigrant New Yorkers Negotiating Latinidad
Erynn Masi de Casanova
Sociological Forum, June 2012, Pages 419-440
Abstract:
Across the United States, immigrants' rights protests, marches, and demonstrations captured the attention of the public and of lawmakers in the spring of 2006. Much of the rhetoric that emerged from these mobilizations included an assertion of Latino/a immigrant identity. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews conducted in New York City in 2006 and 2007, this article argues that, confronted with a strong and clear organizational discourse of pan-ethnic Latino/a unity, Latin American immigrants articulated a variety of identities. I found no clear link between self-identification as Latino/a and participation in political mobilizations for immigration reform; this is in contrast to previous studies of Latino/a political activity. Examining the interactions, perspectives, and practices of Latin American immigrants involved with one community-based organization, this study attempts to address the lack of micro-level studies of immigrants' everyday lives.
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Customer Discrimination and Fernandomania
Andrew Nutting
Journal of Sports Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
This article tests for customer discrimination by examining attendance boosts associated with the Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher and Mexican national Fernando Valenzuela. Fernando's starts were associated with higher attendance at games beginning in 1981 and as late as 1987, and as late as 1985 for games outside of Los Angeles. Attendance increased more when games were played in Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)s with larger Mexican populations. Attendance also increased more in MSAs with larger non-Mexican Hispanic populations, especially when such Hispanics did not claim a specific Latin American country of origin. Larger Asian populations led to significantly lower attendance at Fernando's starts.
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Peter Thisted Dinesen
Political Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
At least two contrasting perspectives on the roots of generalized trust exist: The cultural perspective emphasizing how trust is a stable trait passed on from one generation to the next through parental socialization, and the experiential perspective, which stresses that trust is subject to change with what we experience in the environment in which we live. Analyzing trust of immigrants is an effective way to contrast the two perspectives, as the cultural perspective predicts that immigrants' level of trust will continue to reflect the level of trust of their home country, whereas the experiential perspective predicts that trust of immigrants will change according to the environment of the destination country. This article examines how first-generation immigrants from three low-trust countries of origin (Turkey, Poland, and Italy) are affected by migrating to high-trust countries in Northern Europe, which hold qualities conducive to trust. In contrast to earlier studies examining trust of immigrants, I build on one data set containing data on both migrants and nonmigrants from the same country of origin as well as on a wide range of relevant covariates of trust. Using the method of matching, the results of the analysis lend most support to the experiential perspective on trust as the destination-country context has a massive impact on trust of immigrants, who display significantly higher levels of trust than comparable respondents in their country of origin. The results are robust to limiting the destination-country context to only one country (Germany) and comparing migrants and nonmigrants responding in the same language.
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Ruth Uwaifo Oyelere & Willie Belton
American Economic Review, May 2012, Pages 538-542
Abstract:
This research examines the relationship between the economic status of an immigrant's home country and the probability of self-employment in the US. We find that immigrants from developing countries on average have lower self-employment probabilities relative to immigrants from developed countries. Similarly, we find a positive correlation between the current HDI of an immigrant's home country and the probability of self-employment in the US. These result are unexpected given that past research suggests immigrants from countries with high levels of self-employment (developing countries) are more likely to be self-employed in the US. We provide a possible explanation for these results.
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Gal Ariely
Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, Spring 2012, Pages 242-261
Abstract:
This article challenges the common wisdom that national identification always leads to xenophobic attitudes toward immigrants. Analyzing cross-national survey data from dozens of countries reveals how the relations between national identification and xenophobic attitudes toward immigrants vary according to country citizenship policy. The more inclusive the citizenship regime, the weaker the relations are between national identification and xenophobia. In fact, in countries with full jus soli law there are, on average, negative relations between national identification and xenophobia while in other countries there are positive relations between the two. These findings are used to discuss the ways conceptions of nationhood are institutionalized in citizenship policy from a socio-psychological perspective.
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Undocumented Immigrants as Perceived Criminal Threat: A Test of the Minority Threat Perspective
Xia Wang
Criminology, forthcoming
Abstract:
The link between immigration and crime has garnered considerable attention from researchers. Although the weight of evidence suggests that immigration is not linked to crime, the public consistently views immigrants, especially undocumented immigrants, as criminal and thus a threat to social order. However, little attention has been paid to why they are perceived this way. By drawing on the minority threat perspective, this article investigates the effects of objective and perceptual measures of community context on perceived criminal threat from undocumented immigrants. Analyses of data collected from four Southwest states and the U.S. Census show that the perceived size of the undocumented immigrant population, more so than the actual size of the immigrant population and economic conditions, is positively associated with perceptions of undocumented immigrants as a criminal threat. Additional analyses show that objective measures of community context do not affect native respondents' perceptions of the size of the undocumented immigrant population. The study's findings and their implications for theory, research, and policy are discussed.
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Skilled immigration and innovation: Evidence from enrolment fluctuations in U.S. Doctoral programs
Eric Stuen, Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak & Keith Maskus
Economic Journal, forthcoming
Abstract:
We study the contribution of doctoral students to innovation at 2300 American science and engineering departments from 1973 to 1998. Macroeconomic and policy shocks in source countries that differentially affect enrolments across fields and universities isolate exogenous variation in the supply of students. Both U.S. and international students contribute significantly to the production of knowledge at scientific laboratories, and their contributions are statistically comparable, consistent with an optimizing department. A theoretical model of scholarships helps us infer the productivity effects of student quality. Visa restrictions limiting entry of high-quality students are found to be particularly costly for academic innovation.
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Natural Experiment Evidence on the Effect of Migration on Blood Pressure and Hypertension
John Gibson et al.
Health Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
Over 200 million people worldwide live outside their country of birth and typically experience large gains in material well-being by moving to where wages are higher. But, the effect of this migration on other dimensions of well-being such as health are less clear and existing evidence is ambiguous because of potential for self-selection bias. In this paper, we use a natural experiment, comparing successful and unsuccessful applicants to a migration lottery to experimentally estimate the impact of migration on measured blood pressure and hypertension. Hypertension is a leading global health problem, as well as being an important health measure that responds quickly to migration. We use various econometric estimators to form bounds on the treatment effects because there appears to be selective non-compliance in the natural experiment. Even with these bounds, the results suggest significant and persistent increases in blood pressure and hypertension, which are likely to have implications for future health budgets given recent increases in developing to developed country migration.
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Exploring the Latino Paradox: How Economic and Citizenship Status Impact Health
Kelly Campbell et al.
Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, May 2012, Pages 187-207
Abstract:
The authors examined the contributions of economic status (ES) and citizenship status to health differences between European Americans, Latino Americans, and noncitizen Latinos. The investigation was framed using social identity and comparison theories. Southern California residents (N = 2,164) were randomly selected to complete a telephone interview. Increases in ES predicted health improvements for European Americans across ES levels. For Latino citizens and noncitizens, ES improvements had no effect on objective health. For subjective health, the Latino paradox existed at the lowest ES level for Latino Americans and did not exist for noncitizens. For objective health, the paradox existed in both Latino groups at low ES and additionally for Latino Americans at mid-ES. The study findings suggested that compared to Latinos, improvements in ES have a stronger positive impact on the health of European Americans, which is likely due to the social comparisons being made by each cultural group.
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Does immigration affect public education expenditures? Quasi-experimental evidence
Biagio Speciale
Journal of Public Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
This paper studies the impact of immigration on public education expenditures in EU-15 countries. Identification comes from the use of the 1990s Balkan wars (in Bosnia and Kosovo) as a source of exogenous variation in immigrant inflows to mitigate a possible Tiebout-type bias from endogenous mobility. An increase in foreign population is found to have a small negative effect on public education expenditures. The elasticity of education spending with respect to immigrant population share is -.15. The negative relationship between immigration and public spending on education is consistent with the empirical literature showing evidence on low levels of public good provision in heterogeneous and ethnic diverse societies.
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Immigration and wages: Evidence from construction
Bernt Bratsberg & Oddbjørn Raaum
Economic Journal, forthcoming
Abstract:
To identify wage impacts of immigration, we use licensing requirements in the Norwegian construction sector that give rise to exogenous variation in immigrant employment across trades. Individual panel data reveal lower wage growth in trades with rising immigrant employment shares, with a 10% increase in immigration predicted to reduce wages by 0.6%. Selective attrition masks the causal wage impact if neglected. For low and semi-skilled workers, wage effects are comparable for natives and older immigrant cohorts, consistent with perfect substitutability between native and immigrant labour within trade. Price data indicate that wage and cost reductions are passed on to consumers.
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Anti-Immigrant Propaganda by Radical Right Parties and the Intellectual Performance of Adolescents
Markus Appel
Political Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
In recent years radical right political parties have become a substantial electoral force in many countries around the world. Based on the vision of a mono-ethnic state, anti-immigration is these parties' core message. Connecting research on discrimination, social exclusion, and social identity threat, it was assumed that this anti-immigrant propaganda undermines the intellectual performance of immigrant adolescents. In an experiment conducted at Austrian schools, the intelligence test performance of adolescents with an immigration background decreased after they were exposed to radical right election posters whereas ethnic majority adolescents remained unaffected. The results further suggest that individuals with a strong ethnic minority identity are less vulnerable to the detrimental impact of the radical right propaganda.
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From Coverage to Action: The Immigration Debate and Its Effects on Participation
Jennifer Merolla et al.
Political Research Quarterly, forthcoming
Abstract:
The past decade has witnessed a proliferation of media stories about immigration as a result of increases in authorized and unauthorized immigration to the United States. Scholars know little about how this coverage influences political participation across different groups in society. This study employs an experimental design to test the effects of different media frames on immigration in spurring political participation among recent immigrant-rooted communities and non-immigrant-rooted communities. The authors find strong mobilizing effects among Latinos, particularly for frames that highlight social costs and national security concerns, and weak to no effects on Asians, African Americans, and whites.
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Xiaohuan Lan
Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Summer 2012, Pages 623-640
Abstract:
About 75 percent of U.S.-trained, noncitizen PhDs in science and engineering work in the United States after graduation, and 54 percent of those who stay take postdoctoral positions. The probability of postdoctoral participation is substantially higher for temporary visa holders than for permanent visa holders because of visa-related restrictions in the U.S. labor market. To identify the causal effects of visa status on entry into a postdoctoral position, this paper uses a unique shock to visa status generated by the Chinese Student Protection Act of 1992. Eligibility for the act is used as an instrumental variable for visa status. Two-stage least-square estimates show that permanent visa holders are 24 percent less likely to take postdoctoral positions than temporary visa holders. The effects of a permanent visa vary considerably across research fields, but for most fields, it reduces postdoctoral participation significantly.
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Maykel Verkuyten & Borja Martinovic
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, forthcoming
Abstract:
Social identity complexity refers to individual differences in the interrelationships among multiple ingroup identities. The present research conducted in the Netherlands examines social identity complexity in relation to Muslim immigrants' national identification and the attitude toward the host majority. Three studies are reported that focused on the interrelationship between ethnicity and religion and examined social identity complexity in different ways. Study 1 showed that lower social identity complexity is associated with lower national identification. Studies 2 and 3 examined the interaction between ethnic and religious group identification. For Muslim identifiers, higher ethnic identification was related to lower national identification and higher ingroup bias (Studies 2) and lower endorsement of national liberal practices (Study 3). In contrast, for those who did not strongly identify with Muslims, higher ethnic identification was associated with higher national identification, stronger endorsement of Dutch liberal practices, and more positive stereotypes about the Dutch outgroup (Study 3).
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The Resource Curse Reversed? Remittances and Corruption in Mexico
Michael Tyburski
International Studies Quarterly, June 2012, Pages 339-350
Abstract:
Do remittances increase corruption in recipient states? Previous research suggests that remittances allow governments to maintain policies that create corrupt state-society relations. In contrast, this paper argues that remittances mitigate corruption by increasing government accountability and providing other incentives to reform. Using data from Mexico in 2001-2007, this study shows that corruption trended downward in states receiving larger remittance sums, after controlling for political competition, divided government, and market openness. The results are robust to instrumental variable analysis testing for potential endogeneity between corruption and migration. These findings bring attention to remittances as an exogenous resource for reform-minded groups and suggest that they may operate as the converse of the resource curse.