Granting Birthright Citizenship: A Door Opener to Immigrant Children’s Educational Participation and Success

Christina Felfe and Judith Saurer ()

No 1431, Economics Working Paper Series from University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science

Abstract: Does granting birthright citizenship help immigrant children integrating in the host country's educational system? We address this question using a reform of the German naturalization law in 1999 that entitled children born after January 1, 2000 with birthright citizenship. We use a difference-in-difference design that compares children born shortly before and after the cut-off in years of policy change and years where no policy change took place. Our empirical analysis relies on administrative data from school entrance examinations and on the German Micro Census. We find positive effects on immigrant children's educational participation, both in non-mandatory preschool and upper secondary school. In addition, birthright citizenship enhances children's socio-behavioral development.

Keywords: Education; Immigration Laws; Difference-in-Difference (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I21 K37 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 33 pages
Date: 2014-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-eur, nep-ger and nep-mig
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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http://ux-tauri.unisg.ch/RePEc/usg/econwp/EWP-1431.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Granting Birthright Citizenship – A Door Opener for Immigrant Children's Educational Participation and Success? (2015)
Working Paper: Granting Birthright Citizenship - A Door Opener for Immigrant Children's Educational Participation and Success (2014)
Working Paper: Granting Birthright Citizenship - A Door Opener for Immigrant Children's Educational Participation and Success? (2014)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:usg:econwp:2014:31

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