Does Access to Citizenship Confer Socio-Economic Returns? Evidence from a Randomized Control Design

Jens Hainmueller (), Elisa Cascardi, Michael Hotard (), Rey Koslowski (), Duncan Lawrence (), Vasil Yasenov () and David D. Laitin ()
Additional contact information
Jens Hainmueller: Stanford University
Elisa Cascardi: Stanford University
Michael Hotard: Stanford University
Rey Koslowski: University at Albany
Duncan Lawrence: Stanford University
Vasil Yasenov: Stanford University
David D. Laitin: Stanford University

No 16173, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Based on observational studies, conventional wisdom suggests that citizenship carries economic benefits. We leverage a randomized experiment from New York where low-income registrants who wanted to become citizens entered a lottery to receive fee vouchers to naturalize. Voucher recipients were about 36 p.p. more likely to naturalize. Yet, we find no discernible effects of access to citizenship on several economic outcomes, including income, credit scores, access to credit, financial distress, and employment. Leveraging a multi-dimensional immigrant integration index, we similarly find no measurable effects on non-economic integration. However, we do find that citizenship reduces fears of deportation. Explaining our divergence from past studies, our results also reveal evidence of positive selection into citizenship, suggesting that observational studies of citizenship are susceptible to selection bias.

Keywords: citizenship; naturalization; immigrant integration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G51 J15 J31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 80 pages
Date: 2023-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp, nep-lma and nep-mfd
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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