IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/puaewp/262884.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

U.S. Immigration and Policy Brain Waste

Author

Listed:
  • Ayoung Kim
  • Brigitte S. Waldorf
  • Natasha T. Duncan

Abstract

The U.S. H-1B visa for highly-skilled immigrant labor and the accompanying H-4 visa for their dependents leads to structural constraints that exclude dependents from the labor force. Identifying H-1B recipients from the U.S. Census and American Community Surveys, we find that—despite the labor force exclusion—the vast majority of married H-1B recipients is accompanied by their spouses. This is particularly the case for male H-1B recipients, making wives rather than husbands carry most of the burden. Using a matched sample of married immigrants with work authorization, we estimate counterfactual labor force participation probabilities and wages for the sample of dependent H-4 spouses. We find that the policy-imposed labor force exclusion of H-4 spouses leads to substantial losses of spouses’ earnings and annual aggregate productivity loss of over US$2.1 billion.

Suggested Citation

  • Ayoung Kim & Brigitte S. Waldorf & Natasha T. Duncan, 2017. "U.S. Immigration and Policy Brain Waste," Working papers 262884, Purdue University, Department of Agricultural Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:puaewp:262884
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.262884
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/262884/files/17-5%20Manuscript_brain_waste.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/262884/files/17-5%20Manuscript_brain_waste.pdf?subformat=pdfa
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.262884?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stephen Drinkwater & Paul Levine & Emanuela Lotti & Joseph Pearlman, 2007. "The Immigration Surplus Revisited In A General Equilibrium Model With Endogenous Growth," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(3), pages 569-601, August.
    2. Alexander Haupt & Tim Krieger & Thomas Lange, 2016. "Competition for the international pool of talent," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 29(4), pages 1113-1154, October.
    3. Julia Beckhusen & Raymond J.G.M. Florax & Jacques Poot & Brigitte S. Waldorf, 2013. "Attracting Global Talent And Then What? Overeducated Immigrants In The United States," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(5), pages 834-854, December.
    4. Mincer, Jacob, 1978. "Family Migration Decisions," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 86(5), pages 749-773, October.
    5. Janice Compton & Robert A. Pollak, 2007. "Why Are Power Couples Increasingly Concentrated in Large Metropolitan Areas?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 25(3), pages 475-512.
    6. Briggs Depew & Peter Norlander & Todd A. Sørensen, 2017. "Inter-firm mobility and return migration patterns of skilled guest workers," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 30(2), pages 681-721, April.
    7. Frédéric Docquier & B. Lindsay Lowell & Abdeslam Marfouk, 2009. "A Gendered Assessment of Highly Skilled Emigration," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 35(2), pages 297-321, June.
    8. John Bound & Gaurav Khanna & Nicolas Morales, 2017. "Understanding the Economic Impact of the H-1B Program on the U.S," NBER Working Papers 23153, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Terra Mckinnish, 2008. "Spousal Mobility and Earnings," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 45(4), pages 829-849, November.
    10. John Bound & Gaurav Khanna & Nicolas Morales, 2017. "Understanding the Economic Impact of the H-1B Program on the United States," NBER Chapters, in: High-Skilled Migration to the United States and Its Economic Consequences, pages 109-175, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ayoung Kim & Brigitte S. Waldorf & Natasha T. Duncan, 2021. "US immigration policy and brain waste," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 66(2), pages 209-236, April.
    2. Murray-Close, Marta, 2019. "Commuter Couples and Careers: Moving Together for Him and Apart for Her," SocArXiv s5nvp, Center for Open Science.
    3. Compton, Janice & Pollak, Robert A., 2014. "Family proximity, childcare, and women’s labor force attachment," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 72-90.
    4. Jeremy Burke & Amalia R. Miller, 2018. "The Effects Of Job Relocation On Spousal Careers: Evidence From Military Change Of Station Moves," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 56(2), pages 1261-1277, April.
    5. Foged, Mette, 2016. "Family migration and relative earnings potentials," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 87-100.
    6. Thomas J. Cooke, 2013. "All tied up: Tied staying and tied migration within the United States, 1997 to 2007," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 29(30), pages 817-836.
    7. Alan Benson, 2014. "Rethinking the Two-Body Problem: The Segregation of Women Into Geographically Dispersed Occupations," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(5), pages 1619-1639, October.
    8. Alan Benson, 2015. "A Theory of Dual Job Search and Sex-Based Occupational Clustering," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(3), pages 367-400, July.
    9. Amelie F. Constant, 2020. "Time-Space Dynamics of Return and Circular Migration: Theories and Evidence," CESifo Working Paper Series 8053, CESifo.
    10. Martin Junge & Martin D. Munk & Panu Poutvaara, 2013. "International Migration of Couples," Norface Discussion Paper Series 2013018, Norface Research Programme on Migration, Department of Economics, University College London.
    11. Francine D. Blau & Anne E. Winkler, 2017. "Women, Work, and Family," NBER Working Papers 23644, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Éric Rougier & Nicolas Yol, 2019. "The volatility effect of diaspora's location," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(6), pages 1796-1827, June.
    13. Benson, Alan, 2013. "Firm-sponsored general education and mobility frictions: Evidence from hospital sponsorship of nursing schools and faculty," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 149-159.
    14. Éric Rougier & Nicolas Yol, 2019. "The volatility effect of diaspora's location," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(6), pages 1796-1827, June.
    15. Escamilla Guerrero, David & Lepistö, Miko & Minns, Chris, 2022. "Explaining gender differences in migrant sorting: evidence from Canada-US migration," Economic History Working Papers 117260, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    16. Gaetano Basso & Giovanni Peri & Ahmed S. Rahman, 2020. "Computerization and immigration: Theory and evidence from the United States," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 53(4), pages 1457-1494, November.
    17. Hendrik Jürges, 2006. "Gender ideology, division of housework, and the geographic mobility of families," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 4(4), pages 299-323, December.
    18. David de la Croix & Frederic Docquier, 2015. "An Incentive Mechanism to Break the Low-skill Immigration Deadlock," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 18(3), pages 593-618, July.
    19. Thomas J. Cooke & Clara H. Mulder & Michael Thomas, 2016. "Union dissolution and migration," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 34(26), pages 741-760.
    20. Gautier, Pieter A. & Svarer, Michael & Teulings, Coen, 2005. "Marriage and the City," IZA Discussion Papers 1491, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Labor and Human Capital; Political Economy; Research Methods/ Statistical Methods;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:puaewp:262884. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dapurus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.