Citizenship, Fertility, and Parental Investments

Ciro Avitabile, Irma Clots-Figueras and Paolo Masella

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2014, vol. 6, issue 4, 35-65

Abstract: Citizenship rights are associated with better economic opportunities for immigrants. This paper studies how in a country with a large fraction of temporary migrants the fertility decisions of foreign citizens respond to a change in the rules that regulate child legal status at birth. The introduction of birthright citizenship in Germany in 2000, represented a positive shock to the returns to investment in child human capital. Consistent with Becker's "quality-quantity" model of fertility, we find that birthright citizenship leads to a reduction in immigrant fertility and an improvement in health and socio-emotional outcomes for the children affected by the reform.

JEL-codes: J13 J15 J16 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
Note: DOI: 10.1257/app.6.4.35
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (22)

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Working Paper: Citizenship, Fertility and Parental Investment (2012)
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