Immigration and Native Children's Long-Term Outcomes

Abstract

This paper examines how immigration affects native children’s economic opportunities leveraging linked U.S. censuses in the early twentieth century. Using the shift-share instrument for county-level immigration exposure, I find that childhood exposure to immigrants enhances native-borns’ adulthood economic performance. However, children of high-skilled fathers enjoy a higher positive impact than their peers, given the same exposure level. I investigate two potential channels and show that immigration-induced into-city migration explains only around 10% of the exposure effect. In addition, immigration encourages native children to advance on the occupational ladder and to specialize in less immigrant-intensive jobs.

Keywords: Immigration, Childhood exposure

JEL Classification: J24, J61, J62, N32