Does Naturalization Increase Years of Education? Effect of IRCA on Educational Attainment of Undocumented Immigrant Children

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dc.contributor.advisorWard, Zachary
dc.contributor.authorSolheim, Aimee
dc.contributor.departmentBaylor Business Fellows.en_US
dc.contributor.schoolshonors collegeen_US
dc.date.accessioned2020-05-20T12:44:31Z
dc.date.available2020-05-20T12:44:31Z
dc.date.copyright2020-05
dc.date.issued2020-05-20
dc.description.abstractThis paper studies the effect of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (“IRCA”) on the educational attainment of undocumented immigrant children. IRCA provided a path to citizenship for over 3 million undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States. I use data from the American Community Survey 5-Year Public Use Sample for the period 2013 through 2017 to estimate the effect on completed educational attainment. Using a differences-in-differences model, I compare childhood immigrants who arrived before the 1982 cutoff to those who arrived after. The second difference compares those who were born in countries with high applications rates (“high take-up”) and with low application rates (“low take-up”). Unexpectedly, I find no evidence that IRCA improved education outcomes. I even find partial evidence that IRCA decreased educational attainment, but this effect is primarily driven by Mexico. After dropping Mexico, I find a “zero” effect, making it unclear whether the relationship is due to unobservable changes in Mexican immigration or to the policy.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/2104/10862
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.rightsBaylor University projects are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. Contact libraryquestions@baylor.edu for inquiries about permission.en_US
dc.rights.accessrightsWorldwide accessen_US
dc.titleDoes Naturalization Increase Years of Education? Effect of IRCA on Educational Attainment of Undocumented Immigrant Childrenen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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