Full Citation
Title: Propensity to Naturalize and its Impact on Labour Market Performance and Public Coffers in the United States of America
Citation Type: Working Paper
Publication Year: 2007
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Abstract: Immigration literature in the United States cites poorer economic performance ofrecent immigrants (arrivals since mid-1980s) than of those who arrived in the past. Massey andBartley (2005) caution researchers by pointing out that immigrants economic performance is afunction of their legal status in the country. In this paper, we analyze the economic performanceof naturalized citizens, who are the most advantaged group of immigrants in terms of civic andeconomic rights, and yet comprise only 40 percent of the immigrant population in the UnitedStates. Data from 2000 census of population are used.Our econometric and descriptive results indicate that 1) naturalized citizens earn higher labourmarket incomes than their non-naturalized counterparts in the United States, 2) a householdheaded by a naturalized citizen remains a source of public funds transfer to the non-immigranthousehold for a long time after arrival into the country, and 3) an immigrant household headed bya non-citizen is a net recipient of public funds transfers from the non-immigrant household.Impacts of several socioeconomic factors on the propensity to naturalize are also analyzed in aneconometric framework.
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Authors: Akbari, Ather H.
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Publication Number: 07-01
Institution: Vancouver Centre of Excellence
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Publisher Location: Vancouver
Data Collections: IPUMS USA
Topics: Migration and Immigration, Poverty and Welfare
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