Citizenship, Fertility, and Parental Investments

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Avitabile, Ciro; Clots-Figueras, Irma; Masella, Paolo
• 署名单位: The World Bank; Universidad Carlos III de Madrid; University of Sussex
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-APPLIED ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7782
• DOI: 10.1257/app.6.4.35
• 发表日期: 2014
• 页码: 35-65
• 关键词: immigrants; CHILDREN; QUALITY; obesity; overweight; EMPLOYMENT; quantity; naturalization; endowments; Germany

摘要

Citizenship rights are associated with better economic opportunities for immigrants. This paper studies how in a country with a large fraction of temporary migrants the fertility decisions of foreign citizens respond to a change in the rules that regulate child legal status at birth. The introduction of birthright citizenship in Germany in 2000, represented a positive shock to the returns to investment in child human capital. Consistent with Becker's quality-quantity model of fertility, we find that birthright citizenship leads to a reduction in immigrant fertility and an improvement in health and socio-emotional outcomes for the children affected by the reform.