IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wop/jopovw/71.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Use of Means-Tested Transfer Programs by Immigrants, Their Children, and Their Children's Children

Author

Listed:
  • Luojia Hu

Abstract

Public concern over immigrants' use of welfare culminated in the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (Welfare Reform Act (WRA)). Welfare reform radically changed the welfare system in the United States. Its impact on low-skilled U.S. citizens is the subject of intense debate and study. While the changes brought by this law affect all welfare recipients, noncitizens were expressly singled out. The welfare reform act affects the panoply of government sponsored support more profoundly for noncitizens than for any other group. We first present a brief summary of the changes in the welfare system affecting noncitizens, using data from the 1994-1996 Current Populations Surveys to analyze these changes. In addition to providing information on changes in welfare rules pertaining to immigrants, the contribution of this research to the literature on immigrants and welfare is threefold: first, we use the most recent data available before the large overhaul in the welfare rules and those data have rich information on a wide range of transfer programs. Therefore this work should help paint a clear picture of immigrants' reliance on welfare prior to the welfare reform. Secondly, the data allow us to examine several groups of interest, in particular, immigrants, the second generation and the third (and higher) generation. Lastly, combining the CPS data with 1970 Census data allows us to calculate intergenerational correlation in welfare use between immigrants and their children. So this paper should shed some light on the possible effects, both short term and long term, of welfare reform.

Suggested Citation

  • Luojia Hu, 1999. "Use of Means-Tested Transfer Programs by Immigrants, Their Children, and Their Children's Children," JCPR Working Papers 71, Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:wop:jopovw:71
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
    1. Check below whether another version of this item is available online.
    2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
    3. Perform a search for a similarly titled item that would be available.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Moffitt, Robert, 1992. "Incentive Effects of the U.S. Welfare System: A Review," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 30(1), pages 1-61, March.
    2. Julian R. Betts & Magnus Lofstrom, 2000. "The Educational Attainment of Immigrants: Trends and Implications," NBER Chapters, in: Issues in the Economics of Immigration, pages 51-116, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. George J. Borjas, 2021. "Assimilation, Changes in Cohort Quality, and the Earnings of Immigrants," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Foundational Essays in Immigration Economics, chapter 2, pages 3-29, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    4. Kristin F. Butcher & Anne Morrison Piehl, 1998. "Cross-city evidence on the relationship between immigration and crime," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(3), pages 457-493.
    5. Janet Currie, 2000. "Do Children of Immigrants Make Differential Use of Public Health Insurance?," NBER Chapters, in: Issues in the Economics of Immigration, pages 271-308, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Antel, John J, 1992. "The Intergenerational Transfer of Welfare Dependency: Some Statistical Evidence," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 74(3), pages 467-473, August.
    7. Janet Currie & Aaron S. Yelowitz, 1999. "Health Insurance and Less Skilled Workers," JCPR Working Papers 63, Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research.
    8. Bartel, Ann P, 1989. "Where Do the New U.S. Immigrants Live?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 7(4), pages 371-391, October.
    9. Francine D. Blau, 1984. "The Use of Transfer Payments by Immigrants," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 37(2), pages 222-239, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kristin F. Butcher & Anne Morrison Piehl, 2005. "Why are immigrants' incarceration rates so low? evidence on selective immigration, deterrence, and deportation," Working Paper Series WP-05-19, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kristin F. Butcher & Anne Morrison Piehl, 1998. "Recent Immigrants: Unexpected Implications for Crime and Incarceration," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 51(4), pages 654-679, July.
    2. Jorgen Hansen & Magnus Lofstrom, 2003. "Immigrant Assimilation and Welfare Participation Do Immigrants Assimilate Into or Out of Welfare?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 38(1).
    3. Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina & Arenas-Arroyo, Esther & Sevilla, Almudena, 2018. "Immigration enforcement and economic resources of children with likely unauthorized parents," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 63-78.
    4. Alejandro Gaviria & Carlos Medina & Jorge Tamayo, 2010. "Assessing the Link between Adolescent Fertility and Urban Crime," Borradores de Economia 6860, Banco de la Republica.
    5. Michael Haan, 2008. "The Place of Place: Location and Immigrant Economic Well-being in Canada," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 27(6), pages 751-771, December.
    6. Christian Dustmann & Joseph-Simon Görlach, 2016. "The Economics of Temporary Migrations," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 54(1), pages 98-136, March.
    7. Magnus Lofstrom, 2002. "Labor market assimilation and the self-employment decision of immigrant entrepreneurs," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 15(1), pages 83-114.
    8. Zimran, Ariell, 2022. "US immigrants’ secondary migration and geographic assimilation during the Age of Mass Migration," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    9. Kristin F. Butcher & Anne Morrison Piehl, 2005. "Why are immigrants' incarceration rates so low? evidence on selective immigration, deterrence, and deportation," Working Paper Series WP-05-19, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    10. Prummer, Anja & Siedlarek, Jan-Peter, 2014. "Institutions And The Preservation Of Cultural Traits," Discussion Paper Series of SFB/TR 15 Governance and the Efficiency of Economic Systems 470, Free University of Berlin, Humboldt University of Berlin, University of Bonn, University of Mannheim, University of Munich.
    11. Una Okonkwo Osili & Anna L. Paulson, 2004. "Prospects for immigrant-native wealth assimilation: evidence from financial market participation," Working Paper Series WP-04-18, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    12. Juan M. Villa & Miguel Niño-Zarazúa, 2019. "Poverty dynamics and graduation from conditional cash transfers: a transition model for Mexico’s Progresa-Oportunidades-Prospera program," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 17(2), pages 219-251, June.
    13. Borjas, George J., 2004. "Food insecurity and public assistance," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(7-8), pages 1421-1443, July.
    14. Aslund, Olof, 2005. "Now and forever? Initial and subsequent location choices of immigrants," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 141-165, March.
    15. Heather Antecol & Peter Kuhn & Stephen J. Trejo, 2006. "Assimilation via Prices or Quantities?: Sources of Immigrant Earnings Growth in Australia, Canada, and the United States," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 41(4).
    16. Beaulieu, Nicolas & Duclos, Jean-Yves & Fortin, Bernard & Rouleau, Manon, 2001. "An Econometric Analysis of Intergenerational Reliance on Social Assistance," Cahiers de recherche 0116, Université Laval - Département d'économique.
    17. George J. Borjas, 2000. "Immigration and the Food Stamp Program," JCPR Working Papers 121, Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research.
    18. Sweetman, A. & van Ours, J.C., 2014. "Immigration : What About the Children and Grandchildren?," Discussion Paper 2014-009, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    19. Stephen J. Trejo, 1992. "Immigrant Welfare Recipiency: Recent Trends And Future Implications," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 10(2), pages 44-53, April.
    20. Christian Dustmann & Yannis Kastis & Ian Preston, 2023. "Inequality and Immigration," CESifo Working Paper Series 10486, CESifo.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wop:jopovw:71. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Thomas Krichel (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/jcuchus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.