Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP14684
Authors: Giovanni Facchini; Costanza Biavaschi
Abstract: What is the role played by immigrant groups in shaping migration policy in the destination country? We address this question exploiting cross-state variation in U.S. citizens' access to the franchise, due to the presence of residency requirements. First we document that naturalized immigrants were more geographically mobile than natives. Second, congressmen representing districts with large numbers of naturalized U.S. citizens were more likely to support an open migration policy, but this effect is reversed once we account for residency requirements. Our results indicate that electoral accountability of U.S. congressmen to naturalized immigrants was a key factor in explaining this outcome.
Keywords: immigration policy; political economy
JEL Codes: F22; J61
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Naturalized immigrants (K37) | Geographic mobility (J62) |
| Naturalized immigrants (K37) | Congressional voting behavior (D72) |
| Naturalized immigrants (K37) | Support for open migration policies (F22) |
| Residency requirements (R21) | Congressional voting behavior (D72) |
| Residency requirements (R21) | Support for open migration policies (F22) |