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Title: Do Students Respond to Incentives? The Education Choices of Teenage Illegal Immigrants

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2011

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Abstract: Of the estimated 11.1 million illegal immigrants in the U.S., 1.1 million are children. Due to differential treatment in the labor market, teenage illegal immigrants face low returns to schooling. To measure the effect of illegality on the educational choices of Hispanic teenagers, I compare siblings who differ in their legal status due to their birth country. Using proxies for legal status in U.S. census, I show that illegality increases the probability that a Hispanic teenager is not in school by 1.9-2.4 percentage points. Alternative explanations, such as differences in health or English ability, appear unable to explain this result.

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Authors: Woolston, William Gui

Publisher: Stanford University

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Education, Migration and Immigration

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