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Immigration and the Human Capital of Natives

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  • Peter McHenry

Abstract

Large low-skilled immigration flows influence both the distribution of local school resources and also local relative wages, which exert counterbalancing pressures on the local return to schooling. I use the National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS:88) and U.S. Census data to show that low-skilled immigration to an area induces local natives to improve their performance in school, attain more years of schooling, and take jobs that involve communication-intensive tasks for which they (native English speakers) have a comparative advantage. These results point out mechanisms that mitigate the potentially negative effect of immigration on natives’ wages.

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  • Peter McHenry, 2015. "Immigration and the Human Capital of Natives," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 50(1), pages 34-71.
    • Handle: RePEc:uwp:jhriss:v:50:y:2015:i:1:p:34-71
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    Cited by:

    1. Campo, Francesco & Forte, Giuseppe & Portes, Jonathan, 2018. "The Impact of Migration on Productivity and Native-Born Workers' Training," IZA Discussion Papers 11833, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Osborne Jackson, 2015. "Does immigration crowd natives into or out of higher education?," Working Papers 15-18, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    3. Timothy M. Diette & Ruth Uwaifo Oyelere, 2017. "Gender and racial differences in peer effects of limited English students: a story of language or ethnicity?," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 6(1), pages 1-18, December.
    4. Assaad, Ragui & Ginn, Thomas & Saleh, Mohamed, 2023. "Refugees and the education of host populations: Evidence from the Syrian inflow to Jordan," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    5. David Figlio & Paola Giuliano & Riccardo Marchingiglio & Umut Ozek & Paola Sapienza, 2024. "Diversity in Schools: Immigrants and the Educational Performance of U.S.-Born Students," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 91(2), pages 972-1006.
    6. Naguib, Costanza, 2019. "Estimating the Heterogeneous Impact of the Free Movement of Persons on Relative Wage Mobility," Economics Working Paper Series 1903, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    7. Tumen, Semih, 2021. "The effect of refugees on native adolescents’ test scores: Quasi-experimental evidence from PISA," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    8. Louis-Philippe Beland & Bulent Unel, 2018. "The impact of party affiliation of US governors on immigrants’ labor market outcomes," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 31(2), pages 627-670, April.
    9. Michael Landesmann & Sandra M. Leitner & Isilda Mara, 2015. "Intra-EU Mobility and Push and Pull Factors in EU Labour Markets: Estimating a Panel VAR Model," wiiw Working Papers 120, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    10. Stuhler, Jan & Jaeger, David & Ruist, Joakim, 2018. "Shift-Share Instruments and the Impact of Immigration," CEPR Discussion Papers 12701, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    11. Bächli, Mirjam & Tsankova, Teodora, 2020. "Free Movement of Workers and Native Demand for Tertiary Education," Other publications TiSEM 33968781-3521-459e-86c9-f, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    12. Bachli, Mirjam & Tsankova, Teodora, 2020. "Free movement of workers and native demand for tertiary education," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 515, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    13. Ikhenaode, Bright Isaac, 2024. "Immigration, skill acquisition, and fiscal redistribution in a search equilibrium model," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 28(1), pages 1-31, January.
    14. Masatoshi Jinno & Masaya Yasuoka, 2022. "Economic benefits of immigration for natives: the effects of immigrants through the school system," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 69(2), pages 125-143, June.
    15. Stefano Spalletti, 2015. "Capitale umano e fenomeni migratori (1776-1962): una rassegna," AGRICOLTURA ISTITUZIONI MERCATI, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2015(1), pages 137-153.
    16. Dillender, Marcus & McInerney, Melissa, 2020. "The role of Mexican immigration to the United States in improved workplace safety for natives from 1980 to 2015," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    17. Çakır, Selcen & Erbay, Elif & Kirdar, Murat Güray, 2021. "Syrian Refugees and Human Capital Accumulation of Native Children in Turkey," IZA Discussion Papers 14972, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Chevalier, Arnaud & Isphording, Ingo E. & Lisauskaite, Elena, 2020. "Peer diversity, college performance and educational choices," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    19. Felipe González, 2020. "Immigration and human capital: consequences of a nineteenth century settlement policy," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 14(3), pages 443-477, September.
    20. Mark Colas, 2018. "Dynamic Responses to Immigration," Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute Working Papers 6, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    21. Tumen, Semih, 2018. "The Impact of Low-Skill Refugees on Youth Education," IZA Discussion Papers 11869, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    22. Brunello, Giorgio & Lodigiani, Elisabetta & Rocco, Lorenzo, 2020. "Does low skilled immigration increase the education of natives? Evidence from Italian provinces," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    23. Brunello, Giorgio & Lodigiani, Elisabetta & Rocco, Lorenzo, 2017. "Does Low Skilled Immigration Cause Human Capital Polarization? Evidence from Italian Provinces," IZA Discussion Papers 11062, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    24. Osborne Jackson, 2018. "The impact of migration on earnings inequality," Working Papers 19-5, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    25. Bächli, Mirjam & Teodora Tsankova, 2020. "Free Movement of Workers and Native Demand for Tertiary Education," Economics Working Paper Series 2019, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.

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