Unintended Consequences of Immigration Policy on Children's Human Capital
with Benhard Schmidpeter
This study examines the unintended consequences of immigration enforcement policies on children's human capital. Exploiting the temporal and geographic variation in the enactment of immigration enforcement policies, we find that English language profi ciency
of U.S.-born children with at least one undocumented parent is negatively affected by the introduction of immigration enforcement laws. We show that the reduction in children's English proficiency is caused by changes in parental investment behavior. Increasing fear of being detected and deported leads undocumented parents to substitute children's time in formal non-mandatory pre-school education with parental time spent at home. We fi nd evidence that parental time investment is not as productive as time spent in pre-school. These developments lead ultimately to a reduction in children's human capital.
Working Paper: Coming Soon
with Benhard Schmidpeter
This study examines the unintended consequences of immigration enforcement policies on children's human capital. Exploiting the temporal and geographic variation in the enactment of immigration enforcement policies, we find that English language profi ciency
of U.S.-born children with at least one undocumented parent is negatively affected by the introduction of immigration enforcement laws. We show that the reduction in children's English proficiency is caused by changes in parental investment behavior. Increasing fear of being detected and deported leads undocumented parents to substitute children's time in formal non-mandatory pre-school education with parental time spent at home. We fi nd evidence that parental time investment is not as productive as time spent in pre-school. These developments lead ultimately to a reduction in children's human capital.
Working Paper: Coming Soon