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Labor Market Openness, H-1b Visa Policy, And The Scale Of International Student Enrollment In The United States

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  • Kevin Shih

Abstract

type="main" xml:id="ecin12250-abs-0001"> International students have long comprised an important part of U.S. higher education. However, little is known regarding the factors that encourage students from across the world to enroll in U.S. colleges and universities each year. This paper examines the relationship between international enrollment and the openness of the United States' skilled labor market, currently regulated by the H-1B program. Gravity regressions reveal that H-1B visa issuances to a country are positively and significantly related to the number of international students from that country. Causal estimates of the impact of labor market openness are achieved by exploiting a dramatic fall in the H-1B visa cap in October 2003. Triple difference estimates show that the fall in the cap lowered foreign enrollment by 10%. (JEL F22, I21, J11)

Suggested Citation

  • Kevin Shih, 2016. "Labor Market Openness, H-1b Visa Policy, And The Scale Of International Student Enrollment In The United States," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 54(1), pages 121-138, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecinqu:v:54:y:2016:i:1:p:121-138
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/ecin.2016.54.issue-1
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    Cited by:

    1. Tekleselassie, Tsegay Gebrekidan, 2016. "Three essays on the impact of institutions and policies on socio-economic outcomes," Economics PhD Theses 1316, Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School.
    2. Murat Demirci, 2020. "International students and labour market outcomes of US‐born workers," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 53(4), pages 1495-1522, November.
    3. Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina & Shih, Kevin Y. & Xu, Huanan, 2020. "International Student Enrollments and Selectivity: Evidence from the Optional Practical Training Program," IZA Discussion Papers 13730, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Sparber, Chad, 2019. "Substitution between groups of highly-educated, foreign-born, H-1B workers," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    5. Anelli, Massimo & Shih, Kevin Y. & Williams, Kevin, 2017. "Foreign Peer Effects and STEM Major Choice," IZA Discussion Papers 10743, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Mariusz Urbański, 2022. "Comparing Push and Pull Factors Affecting Migration," Economies, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-15, January.
    7. Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes & Delia Furtado, 2019. "Settling for Academia?: H-1B Visas and the Career Choices of International Students in the United States," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 54(2), pages 401-429.
    8. Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina & Furtado, Delia & Xu, Huanan, 2018. "Did OPT Policy Changes Help Steer and Retain Foreign Talent into Stem?," IZA Discussion Papers 11548, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Julio Aguirre & Elmer Guerrero & Yohnny Campana, 2021. "How effective are protected natural areas when roads are present? An analysis of the Peruvian case," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 23(4), pages 831-859, October.
    10. Anna Maria Mayda & Francesc Ortega & Giovanni Peri & Kevin Shih & Chad Sparber, 2018. "New Data and Facts on H-1B Workers across Firms," NBER Chapters, in: The Roles of Immigrants and Foreign Students in US Science, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship, pages 99-121, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina & Furtado, Delia & Xu, Huanan, 2019. "OPT policy changes and foreign born STEM talent in the U.S," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    12. Yinjunjie Zhang & Marco A. Palma, 2020. "The impact of the H-1B cap exemption on Ph.D. labor markets," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 59(5), pages 2125-2152, November.
    13. Nathan S Foote, 2017. "Beyond studentification in United States College Towns: Neighborhood change in the knowledge nodes, 1980–2010," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 49(6), pages 1341-1360, June.
    14. Mayda, Anna Maria & Ortega, Francesc & Peri, Giovanni & Shih, Kevin & Sparber, Chad, 2018. "The effect of the H-1B quota on the employment and selection of foreign-born labor," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 105-128.
    15. Mariele Macaluso, 2022. "The influence of skill-based policies on the immigrant selection process," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 39(2), pages 595-621, July.
    16. Murat Demirci, 2021. "Rising Political Populism and Outmigration of Youth as International Students," Koç University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum Working Papers 2123, Koc University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum.
    17. Mathias Czaika & Christopher R. Parsons, 2017. "The Gravity of High-Skilled Migration Policies," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(2), pages 603-630, April.
    18. Demirci, Murat, 2023. "Youth responses to political populism: Education abroad as a step toward emigration," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 653-673.
    19. Chen, Mingyu & Howell, Jessica & Smith, Jonathan, 2023. "Best and brightest? The impact of student visa restrictiveness on who attends college in the US," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    20. Shih, Kevin, 2017. "Do international students crowd-out or cross-subsidize Americans in higher education?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 170-184.
    21. Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina & Romiti, Agnese, 2021. "International Student Applications in the United Kingdom after Brexit," IZA Discussion Papers 14247, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    22. Catalina Amuedo‐Dorantes & Kevin Shih & Huanan Xu, 2023. "The implications of optional practical training reforms on international student enrollments and quality," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 61(2), pages 253-281, April.
    23. Tatiana Mocanu & Pedro Tremacoldi‐Rossi, 2023. "The impact of international students on housing markets," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 56(2), pages 647-675, May.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • J11 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Demographic Trends, Macroeconomic Effects, and Forecasts

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