U.S. Immigration Policy and Immigrant Fertility

Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes and Esther Arenas-Arroyo ()
Additional contact information
Esther Arenas-Arroyo: Vienna University of Economics and Business
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Esther Arenas-Arroyo

No 13748, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Using the 2005-2014 waves of the American Community Survey –a period characterized by the rapid expansion of interior immigration enforcement initiatives across the United States, we evaluate the impact of a tougher policy environment on undocumented immigrants' fertility. We find that a one standard deviation increases in enforcement lowers childbearing among likely undocumented women by 5 percent. The effect emanates from police-based measures linked to increased deportations, which may raise uncertainty about the future of the family unit and its resources. Understanding these impacts is important given the critical contributions of immigrants and their offspring to diversity, the economy and the sustainability of the welfare state.

Keywords: undocumented immigrants; interior immigration enforcement; immigration policy; fertility; unauthorized immigrants; United States (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J13 J15 K37 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 57 pages
Date: 2020-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-int, nep-law and nep-mig
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Published - published as 'Immigration policy and fertility: Evidence from undocumented migrants in the U.S' ´in: Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2021, 189, 274 - 297

Downloads: (external link)
https://docs.iza.org/dp13748.pdf (application/pdf)

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:iza:izadps:dp13748

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
IZA, Margard Ody, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) IZA, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Holger Hinte ().