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Intergenerational mobility and the political economy of immigration

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  • Bohn, Henning
  • Lopez-Velasco, Armando R.

Abstract

Flows of US immigrants are concentrated at the extremes of the skill distribution. We develop a dynamic political economy model consistent with this observation. Individuals care about wages and the welfare of their children. Skill types are complementary in production. Voter support for immigration requires that the children of median-voter natives and of immigrants have sufficiently dissimilar skills. We estimate intergenerational transition matrices for skills, as measured by education, and find support for immigration at high and low skills, but not in the middle. In a version with guest worker programs, voters prefer high-skilled immigrants but low-skilled guest workers.

Suggested Citation

  • Bohn, Henning & Lopez-Velasco, Armando R., 2018. "Intergenerational mobility and the political economy of immigration," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 72-88.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:dyncon:v:94:y:2018:i:c:p:72-88
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jedc.2018.07.005
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    Cited by:

    1. Akira Yakita, 2021. "Is tightening immigration policy good for workers in the receiving economy?," Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science, Springer, vol. 5(3), pages 975-991, October.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Immigration; Political economy model; Overlapping generations; Intergenerational mobility; Guest workers;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity

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