The Effect of Immigration Restrictions on Local Labor Markets: Lessons from the 1920s Border Closures

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Abramitzky, Ran; Ager, Philipp; Boustan, Leah; Cohen, Elior; Hansen, Casper W.
• 署名单位: Stanford University; National Bureau of Economic Research; University of Mannheim; Center for Economic & Policy Research (CEPR); Princeton University; Federal Reserve System - USA; Federal Reserve Bank - Kansas City; University of Copenhagen
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-APPLIED ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7782
• DOI: 10.1257/app.20200807
• 发表日期: 2023
• 页码: 164-191
• 关键词: UNITED-STATES; self-selection; economic-development; internal migration; AGE; impacts; US; assimilation; diversity; MIGRANTS

摘要

In the 1920s, the United States substantially reduced immigration by imposing country-specific entry quotas. We compare local labor markets differentially exposed to the quotas due to variation in the national-origin mix of their immigrant population. US-born work-ers in areas losing immigrants did not benefit relative to workers in less exposed areas. Instead, in urban areas, European immigrants were replaced with internal migrants and immigrants from Mexico and Canada. By contrast, farmers shifted toward capital-intensive agriculture, and the immigrant-intensive mining industry contracted. These differences highlight the uneven effects of the quota system at the local level. (JEL J15, J18, J31, K37, N32, N42, R23)