Immigration Restrictions as Active Labor Market Policy: Evidence from the Mexican Bracero Exclusion
Michael Clemens,
Ethan Lewis and
Hannah M. Postel
No 23125, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc
Abstract:
There has been little rigorous evaluation of immigration barriers intended to improve domestic terms of employment by shrinking the workforce. We study one such barrier, a policy change that excluded almost half a million Mexican bracero seasonal agricultural workers from the United States. Using novel data to measure state-level exposure to the policy, we reject the wage effect of bracero exclusion predicted by theory in the absence of induced technical change. We fail to reject the hypothesis that exclusion did not affect U.S. agricultural wages or employment. Important mechanisms include adoption of less labor-intensive technologies and shifts in crop mix.
JEL-codes: F22 J08 J38 J61 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-int and nep-mig
Note: DAE LS
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)
Published as Michael A. Clemens & Ethan G. Lewis & Hannah M. Postel, 2018. "Immigration Restrictions as Active Labor Market Policy: Evidence from the Mexican Bracero Exclusion," American Economic Review, vol 108(6), pages 1468-1487.
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