The Wage Impact of the Marielitos: A Reappraisal

George Borjas

No 21588, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This paper brings a new perspective to the analysis of the Mariel supply shock, revisiting the question armed with the accumulated insights from the literature on the economic impact of immigration. A crucial lesson from that literature is that any credible attempt to measure the wage impact must carefully match the skills of the immigrants with those of the pre-existing workers. At least 60 percent of the Marielitos were high school dropouts. A reappraisal of the Mariel evidence, specifically examining wages in this low-skill group, overturns the finding that Mariel did not affect Miami’s wage structure. The wage of high school dropouts in Miami dropped dramatically, by 10 to 30 percent, suggesting an elasticity of wages with respect to the number of workers between -0.5 and -1.5.

JEL-codes: J2 J31 J61 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lma, nep-ltv and nep-mig
Note: LS
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (31)

Published as George J. Borjas, 2017. "The Wage Impact of the : A Reappraisal," ILR Review, vol 70(5), pages 1077-1110.

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Journal Article: The Wage Impact of the Marielitos: A Reappraisal (2017)
Working Paper: The Wage Impact of the Marielitos: A Reappraisal (2015)
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