What drives the legalization of immigrants?: evidence from IRCA

Casarico, Alessandra, Facchini, Giovanni and Frattini, Tommaso (2018) What drives the legalization of immigrants?: evidence from IRCA. Regional Science and Urban Economics, 70 . pp. 258-273. ISSN 0166-0462

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Abstract

We develop a model to understand the trade–offs faced by an elected representative in supporting an amnesty when a restrictive immigration policy is in place. We show that an amnesty is more desirable the more restricted are the occupational opportunities of undocumented immigrants and the smaller is the fiscal leakage to undocumented immigrants via the welfare state. Empirical evidence based on the voting behavior of U.S. Congressmen on the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 provides strong support for the predictions of our theoretical model.

Item Type: Article
Keywords: Migration policy; Amnesties; Roll call votes
Schools/Departments: University of Nottingham, UK > Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Economics
Identification Number: 10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2018.01.009
Depositing User: Facchini, Giovanni
Date Deposited: 29 Mar 2018 09:42
Last Modified: 15 Sep 2019 04:30
URI: https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/50796

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