Do Human Capital Decisions Respond to the Returns to Education? Evidence from DACA

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Kuka, Elira; Shenhav, Na'ama; Shih, Kevin
• 署名单位: George Washington University; Dartmouth College; City University of New York (CUNY) System; Queens College NY (CUNY)
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-ECONOMIC POLICY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7731
• DOI: 10.1257/pol.20180352
• 发表日期: 2020
• 页码: 293-324
• 关键词: labor-market; legal status; outcomes; demand; OPPORTUNITIES; assimilation; immigrants; earnings; credit; rates

摘要

This paper studies human capital responses to the availability of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which provides temporary work authorization and deferral from deportation for undocumented, high-school-educated youth. We use a sample of young adults that migrated to the United States as children to implement a difference-in-difference design that compares noncitizen immigrants (eligible) to citizen immigrants (ineligible) over time. We find that DACA significantly increased high school attendance and high school graduation rates, reducing the citizen-noncitizen gap in graduation by 40 percent. We also find positive, though imprecise, impacts on college attendance.