Dreamers and Beyond: Examining the Broader Educational Effects of DACA

Briana Ballis

Journal of Human Resources, 2025, vol. 60, issue 5, 1507-1559

Abstract: This work examines the direct effects and spillover effects of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) on human capital investments during high school. DACA significantly increased the returns to schooling for undocumented youth, while leaving the returns for their U.S.-born peers unchanged. I estimate the impacts of DACA using detailed administrative data from Los Angeles Unified School District. I find that DACA induced undocumented youth to invest more in their education, which also had positive spillover effects on ineligible students (those born in the United States) who attended high school with high concentrations of DACA-eligible youth.

JEL-codes: H52 I26 J15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
Note: DOI: https://doi.org/10.3368/jhr.0621-11696R2
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://jhr.uwpress.org/cgi/reprint/60/5/1507
A subscription is required to access pdf files. Pay per article is available.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:uwp:jhriss:v:60:y:2025:i:5:p:1507-1559

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Journal of Human Resources from University of Wisconsin Press
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().