IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ejw/journl/v17y2020i1p4-17.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Revisiting the Bracero Guest Worker Reforms: A Comment on Clemens, Lewis, and Postel

Author

Listed:
  • Robert Kaestner

Abstract

Michael A. Clemens, Ethan G. Lewis, and Hannah M. Postel (2018) report results of an analysis of the effect of ending the bracero guest worker program on domestic, farm workers’ wages and employment. The authors (CLP) conclude that the ending of the bracero program had little effect on wages and employment of domestic farm workers. I review the CLP analysis focusing on the quality of the data and how those data were used to obtain estimates of the effect of the bracero program. My review suggests that significant data problems make it unlikely that the analysis would be able to identify reliably a labor market effect of ending the bracero program. The authors’ conclusion that ending the bracero program had no effect on the farm wages and employment of domestic workers should be regarded as tentative at best.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert Kaestner, 2020. "Revisiting the Bracero Guest Worker Reforms: A Comment on Clemens, Lewis, and Postel," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 17(1), pages 1-4–17, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:17:y:2020:i:1:p:4-17
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://econjwatch.org/File+download/1148/KaestnerMar2020.pdf?mimetype=pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://econjwatch.org/1192
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. George J. Borjas, 2021. "The Wage Impact Of The Marielitos: A Reappraisal," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Foundational Essays in Immigration Economics, chapter 12, pages 375-408, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    2. David Card, 1990. "The Impact of the Mariel Boatlift on the Miami Labor Market," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 43(2), pages 245-257, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Michael A. Clemens & Ethan G. Lewis & Hannah M. Postel, 2020. "Comment on Kaestner, "Revisiting the Bracero Guest Worker Reforms"," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 17(1), pages 1-18–27, March.

    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. Christopher J. Ruhm, 2019. "Shackling the Identification Police?," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 85(4), pages 1016-1026, April.
    2. Joan Monras, 2019. "Minimum Wages and Spatial Equilibrium: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 37(3), pages 853-904.
    3. Lee, Jongkwan, 2021. "The Role of a University in Cluster Formation: Evidence from a National Institute of Science and Technology in Korea," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    4. Aydemir, Abdurrahman B. & Kırdar, Murat G., 2017. "Quasi-experimental impact estimates of immigrant labor supply shocks: The role of treatment and comparison group matching and relative skill composition," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 282-315.
    5. Drouvelis, Michalis & Malaeb, Bilal & Vlassopoulos, Michael & Wahba, Jackline, 2021. "Cooperation in a fragmented society: Experimental evidence on Syrian refugees and natives in Lebanon," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 176-191.
    6. Seung‐hun Chung & Jung Bae, 2022. "Does refugee inflow affect urban crime? Evidence from the U.S. Indochinese refugee resettlement," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 88(3), pages 951-990, January.
    7. Anda David & Charbel Nahas & Björn Nilsson & Mohamed Ali Marouani, 2018. "The economics of the Syrian refugee crisis in neighboring countries," Working Papers hal-04000224, HAL.
    8. Edo, Anthony & Rapoport, Hillel, 2019. "Minimum wages and the labor market effects of immigration," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    9. Verme, Paolo & Schuettler, Kirsten, 2021. "The impact of forced displacement on host communities: A review of the empirical literature in economics," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    10. Cynthia Boruchowicz & Cesar Martinelli & Susan W. Parker, 2021. "Economic Consequences of Mass Migration: The Venezuelan Exodus in Peru," Working Papers 1080, George Mason University, Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science.
    11. Aracı, Doğu Tan & Demirci, Murat & Kırdar, Murat Güray, 2022. "Development level of hosting areas and the impact of refugees on natives’ labor market outcomes in Turkey☆," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    12. Markus Gehrsitz & Martin Ungerer, 2022. "Jobs, Crime and Votes: A Short‐run Evaluation of the Refugee Crisis in Germany," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 89(355), pages 592-626, July.
    13. Ana María Tribín-Uribe, Achyuta Adhvaryu, Cesar Anzola-Bravo & Oscar Ávila-Montealegre, Leonardo Bonilla-Mejía, Juan Carlos Castro-Fernández & Luz A. Flórez, Ánderson Grajales-Olarte, Alexander Guarín, 2020. "Migración desde Venezuela en Colombia: caracterización del fenómeno y análisis de los efectos macroeconómicos," Revista ESPE - Ensayos Sobre Política Económica, Banco de la República, issue 97, pages 1-74, October.
    14. Lee, Jongkwan & Peri, Giovanni & Yasenov, Vasil, 2022. "The labor market effects of Mexican repatriations: Longitudinal evidence from the 1930s," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    15. Peter Hull & Michal Kolesár & Christopher Walters, 2022. "Labor by design: contributions of David Card, Joshua Angrist, and Guido Imbens," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 124(3), pages 603-645, July.
    16. Jason Anastasopoulos & George J. Borjas & Gavin G. Cook & Michael Lachanski, 2018. "Job Vacancies, the Beveridge Curve, and Supply Shocks: The Frequency and Content of Help-Wanted Ads in Pre- and Post-Mariel Miami," NBER Working Papers 24580, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Giovanni Peri & Derek Rury & Justin C. Wiltshire, 2020. "The Economic Impact of Migrants from Hurricane Maria," NBER Working Papers 27718, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Anda David & Mohamed Ali Marouani & Charbel Nahas & Björn Nilsson, 2020. "The economics of the Syrian refugee crisis in neighbouring countries: The case of Lebanon," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(1), pages 89-109, January.
    19. Anthony Edo & Lionel Ragot & Hillel Rapoport & Sulin Sardoschau & Andreas Steinmayr, 2018. "The Effects of Immigration in Developed Countries: Insights from Recent Economic Research," CEPII Policy Brief 2018-22, CEPII research center.
    20. Anthony Edo & Lionel Ragot & Hillel Rapoport & Sulin Sardoschau & Andreas Steinmayr & Arthur Sweetman, 2020. "An introduction to the economics of immigration in OECD countries," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 53(4), pages 1365-1403, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    immigration; migrants; migration; labor;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • J43 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Agricultural Labor Markets
    • J46 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Informal Labor Market

    Lists

    This item is featured on the following reading lists, Wikipedia, or ReplicationWiki pages:
    1. Revisiting the Bracero Guest Worker Reforms: A Comment on Clemens, Lewis, and Postel (EJW 2020) in ReplicationWiki

    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:ejw:journl:v:17:y:2020:i:1:p:4-17. 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: Jason Briggeman (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/edgmuus.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.