Is Immigration Good for Health? The Effect of Immigration on Older Adult Mortality in the United States

David C. Grabowski, Jonathan Gruber and Brian E. McGarry

No 34791, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We measure the impact of increased immigration on mortality among elderly Americans, who rely on the immigrant-intensive health and long-term care sectors. Using a shift-share approach we find a strong impact of immigration on the size of the immigrant care workforce: admitting 1,000 new immigrants would lead to 142 new foreign healthcare workers, without evidence of crowd out of native health care workers. We also find striking effects on mortality: a 25% increase in the steady state flow of immigrants to the US would result in 5,000 fewer deaths nationwide. We identify reduced use of nursing homes as a key mechanism driving this result.

JEL-codes: I18 J61 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-02
Note: AG LS PE
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