Spillover Effects of Immigration Policies on Children’s Human Capital
with Benhard Schmidpeter
We study the spillover effects of immigration enforcement policies on children’s human capital, concentrating on language proficiency as one of the most important skills. Exploiting the temporal and geographic variation in the enactment of immigration enforcement policies, we find that English language skills of U.S.-born children with at least one undocumented parent are negatively affected by the introduction of immigration enforcement laws. Our estimates are of comparable size but opposite sign as important childhood interventions aimed at improving skills. The reduction in children’s English skills is caused by changes in parental investment behavior. Parents are less likely to enroll their children in formal non-mandatory pre-school, substituting formal non-mandatory pre-school education with parental time spent at home. Parents also reduce time spent socialising, as response to immigration laws. We interpret this as evidence that parents’ behavioral change is likely driven by increasing fear of being detected and deported. Ultimately, these developments lead to a reduction in children’s language skills.
Working Paper
with Benhard Schmidpeter
We study the spillover effects of immigration enforcement policies on children’s human capital, concentrating on language proficiency as one of the most important skills. Exploiting the temporal and geographic variation in the enactment of immigration enforcement policies, we find that English language skills of U.S.-born children with at least one undocumented parent are negatively affected by the introduction of immigration enforcement laws. Our estimates are of comparable size but opposite sign as important childhood interventions aimed at improving skills. The reduction in children’s English skills is caused by changes in parental investment behavior. Parents are less likely to enroll their children in formal non-mandatory pre-school, substituting formal non-mandatory pre-school education with parental time spent at home. Parents also reduce time spent socialising, as response to immigration laws. We interpret this as evidence that parents’ behavioral change is likely driven by increasing fear of being detected and deported. Ultimately, these developments lead to a reduction in children’s language skills.
Working Paper