IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/econom/v91y2024i361p70-92.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Driver's licences for undocumented immigrants and post‐mortem organ donation

Author

Listed:
  • Tianyuan Luo
  • Cesar L. Escalante

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between expanded access to driver's licences among undocumented immigrants and the number of post‐mortem organ donors, using difference‐in‐differences modelling and event study estimation techniques. Results suggest that the adoption of laws that grant driver's licences to undocumented immigrants effectively increased the population of licensed drivers by about 2.7%. These increments eventually led to subsequent increases in the number of Hispanic organ donors by 28%, and the outcome is driven mainly by young adult Hispanic donors. Moreover, DLU laws are further credited with an approximately 17% increase in organ transplants, particularly among Hispanics, although transplant waiting list addition numbers are not significantly affected. As these laws pave the way for more undocumented drivers to register as organ donors, such legislation could help to alleviate organ shortage issues and narrow the ‘ethnic waiting period gap’ for organ transplants.

Suggested Citation

  • Tianyuan Luo & Cesar L. Escalante, 2024. "Driver's licences for undocumented immigrants and post‐mortem organ donation," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 91(361), pages 70-92, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:econom:v:91:y:2024:i:361:p:70-92
    DOI: 10.1111/ecca.12496
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/ecca.12496
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/ecca.12496?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. Michael Smart, 2015. "A nationwide look at the immigrant neighborhood effect on travel mode choice," Transportation, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 189-209, January.
    2. Ben Brewer, 2020. "Click it or give it: Increased seat belt law enforcement and organ donation," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(11), pages 1400-1421, November.
    3. David H. Howard, 2007. "Producing Organ Donors," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 21(3), pages 25-36, Summer.
    4. Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes & Cynthia Bansak, 2014. "Employment Verification Mandates And The Labor Market Outcomes Of Likely Unauthorized And Native Workers," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 32(3), pages 671-680, July.
    5. Miwa Matsuo, 2020. "Carpooling and drivers without household vehicles: gender disparity in automobility among Hispanics and non-Hispanics in the U.S," Transportation, Springer, vol. 47(4), pages 1631-1663, August.
    6. Stacy Dickert-Conlin & Todd Elder & Brian Moore, 2011. "Donorcycles: Motorcycle Helmet Laws and the Supply of Organ Donors," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 54(4), pages 907-935.
    7. Callison, Kevin & Levin, Adelin, 2016. "Donor registries, first-person consent legislation, and the supply of deceased organ donors," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 70-75.
    8. Lacetera, Nicola & Macis, Mario & Stith, Sarah S., 2014. "Removing financial barriers to organ and bone marrow donation: The effect of leave and tax legislation in the U.S," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 43-56.
    9. Mauricio Cáceres & Kenneth P. Jameson, 2015. "The effects on insurance costs of restricting undocumented immigrants' access to driver licenses," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 81(4), pages 907-927, April.
    10. Jun Guan Neoh & Maxwell Chipulu & Alasdair Marshall, 2017. "What encourages people to carpool? An evaluation of factors with meta-analysis," Transportation, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 423-447, March.
    11. Mauricio Cáceres & Kenneth P. Jameson, 2015. "The effects on insurance costs of restricting undocumented immigrants' access to driver licenses," Southern Economic Journal, Southern Economic Association, vol. 81(4), pages 907-927, April.
    12. Jose Fernandez & Matthew Lang, 2015. "Suicide and Organ Donors: Spillover Effects of Mental Health Insurance Mandates," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(4), pages 491-497, April.
    13. Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina & Arenas-Arroyo, Esther & Sevilla, Almudena, 2020. "Labor market impacts of states issuing of driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    14. repec:wly:soecon:v:81:4:y:2015:p:907-927 is not listed on IDEAS
    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. Bilgel, Firat, 2020. "State Gun Control Laws, Gun Ownership and the Supply of Homicide Organ Donors," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    2. Ben Brewer, 2020. "Click it or give it: Increased seat belt law enforcement and organ donation," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(11), pages 1400-1421, November.
    3. Miwa Matsuo, 2020. "Carpooling and drivers without household vehicles: gender disparity in automobility among Hispanics and non-Hispanics in the U.S," Transportation, Springer, vol. 47(4), pages 1631-1663, August.
    4. Bilgel, Fırat & Galle, Brian, 2015. "Financial incentives for kidney donation: A comparative case study using synthetic controls," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 103-117.
    5. Li, Mengling & Riyanto, Yohanes E. & Xu, Menghan, 2022. "Remedying adverse selection in donor-priority rule using freeze period: Theory and experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 384-407.
    6. Jorgen M. Harris & Rhiannon Jerch, 2025. "The long‐run effects of temporary protection from deportation," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 44(1), pages 151-182, January.
    7. Srisan, Tat & Bills, Tierra, 2024. "A case for race and space in auto ownership modeling: A Los Angeles County study," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 182-197.
    8. Callison, Kevin & Levin, Adelin, 2016. "Donor registries, first-person consent legislation, and the supply of deceased organ donors," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 70-75.
    9. Cho, Heepyung, 2022. "Driver’s license reforms and job accessibility among undocumented immigrants," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    10. Vicente Delgado-Fernández & María del Carmen Rey-Merchán & Manuela Pires Rosa, 2024. "Development and Assessment of a Carpooling Applied System: Perspective of Users from Public-Education Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-13, November.
    11. repec:osf:socarx:sw7rp_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Hsin-Ping Hsu, 2023. "Domestic burden in an unfamiliar new homeland: gender, immigration, and household-serving trip frequencies," Transportation, Springer, vol. 50(6), pages 2319-2337, December.
    13. Hans Lueders & Micah Mumper, 2022. "Driving while unauthorized: Auto insurance remains unchanged when providing driver licenses to unauthorized immigrants in California," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 89(3), pages 669-696, September.
    14. Kurt E. Schnier & Robert M. Merion & Nicole Turgeon & David Howard, 2018. "Subsidizing Altruism In Living Organ Donation," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 56(1), pages 398-423, January.
    15. Sarah Greer & Pia M. Orrenius & Madeline Zavodny, 2020. "Who Signs up for E-Verify? Insights from DHS Enrollment Records," Working Papers 2002, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
    16. Xu, Guangtong & Lv, Ying & Sun, Huijun & Wang, Xingrong, 2025. "Development of a deep-learning based gap index for addressing demand–supply interactions in ride-sourcing services," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    17. Wei Kang & Qun Wang & Long Cheng & Meng Ning, 2024. "Examining Commuters’ Intention to Use App-Based Carpooling: Insights from the Technology Acceptance Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(14), pages 1-17, July.
    18. Schouten, Andrew & Blumenberg, Evelyn, 2024. "License to drive: State driver’s licensing laws and the travel of unauthorized immigrants," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    19. Trine Tornøe Platz & Nikolaj Siersbæk & Lars Peter Østerdal, 2019. "Ethically Acceptable Compensation for Living Donations of Organs, Tissues, and Cells: An Unexploited Potential?," Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 1-14, February.
    20. Claudio Deiana & Ludovica Giua & Roberto Nisticò, 2021. "Getting Off on the Wrong Foot: The Long-Term Effects of Missing a Large-Scale Amnesty for Immigrant Workers," CSEF Working Papers 625, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy.
    21. Sari Pekkala Kerr & William R. Kerr, 2021. "Whose Job Is It Anyway? Coethnic Hiring in New US Ventures," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(1), pages 86-127.

    More about this item

    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:bla:econom:v:91:y:2024:i:361:p:70-92. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.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.