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Title: Language skills and citizenship: evidence using an age at arrival instrument

Citation Type: Conference Paper

Publication Year: 2020

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Abstract: The naturalization of immigrants has significant economic and politi- cal implications for the United States. An estimated 9.3 million otherwise eligible immigrants in the U.S. have not yet become citizens, and natural- ization rates for legal permanent residents vary widely by country of origin. In this paper, I identify the causal effect of English language skills on the probability that an immigrant naturalizes using the age-at-arrival instru- mental variable strategy proposed by Bleakley and Chin. I find strong, positive, significant effects of English language skills on naturalization. I find suggestive evidence that this effect is mediated by the effect of lan- guage skills on educational attainment. My results hold across a number of robustness checks designed at addressing concerns about undocumented immigrants.

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Authors: Slungaard Mumma, K.

Conference Name: AEFP 2020 Conference

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Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Education

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