Immigrant Labor and the Institutionalization of the U.S.-born Elderly

Kristin Butcher, Kelsey Moran and Tara Watson

No 29520, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: The U.S. population is aging. We examine whether immigration causally affects the likelihood that the U.S.-born elderly live in institutional settings. Using a shift-share instrument to identify exogenous variation in immigration, we find that a 10 percentage point increase in the less-educated foreign-born labor force share in a local area reduces institutionalization among the elderly by 1.5 and 3.8 percentage points for those aged 65+ and 80+, a 26-29 percent effect relative to the mean. The estimates imply that a typical U.S-born individual over age 65 in the year 2000 was 0.5 percentage points (10 percent) less likely to be living in an institution than would have been the case if immigration had remained at 1980 levels. We show that immigration affects the availability and cost of home services, including those provided by home health aides, gardeners and housekeepers, and other less-educated workers, reducing the cost of aging in the community.

JEL-codes: I11 J14 J15 J61 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age, nep-int, nep-lab, nep-mig and nep-ure
Note: AG EH LS
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published as Kristin F. Butcher & Kelsey Moran & Tara Watson, 2022. "Immigrant labor and the institutionalization of the U.S.‐born elderly," Review of International Economics, vol 30(5), pages 1375-1413.

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