IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jecomi/v13y2025i8p211-d1707697.html

Human Capital and Labor Supply Decisions in Immigrant Families: An Alternative Test of the Family Investment Hypothesis

Author

Listed:
  • Sarit Cohen Goldner

    (Department of Economics, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan 5290002, Israel)

  • Chemi Gotlibovski

    (Department of Economics, The Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yaffo, 2 Rabenu Yeruham st., Tel-Aviv 86162, Israel)

  • Nava Kahana

    (Department of Economics, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan 5290002, Israel)

Abstract

Immigrant households frequently face liquidity constraints upon arrival, which potentially hinders their long-term economic integration. The Family Investment Hypothesis (FIH) suggests that couples may respond to these constraints by coordinating their labor supply: one spouse works to finance the other’s investment in local human capital. Previous studies have tested the FIH by comparing married immigrants to married natives, attributing differences in outcomes to financial constraints. However, this approach may conflate such constraints with other inherent differences between immigrants and natives. This paper introduces a novel identification strategy that compares the differences in labor market outcomes of married and single immigrants to those of their native-born counterparts, allowing for better isolation of the effects of liquidity. Applying this strategy to repeated cross-sectional data on immigrants from the Former Soviet Union who arrived in Israel during the 1990s, the analysis finds no supporting evidence for the FIH. One possible explanation for this finding is the substantial government support extended to these immigrants, which may have mitigated their financial constraints. Alternatively, the results may indicate that immigrant households do not systematically adjust their labor supply in accordance with the FIH framework. These findings highlight the importance of the institutional context in shaping household labor supply decisions.

Suggested Citation

  • Sarit Cohen Goldner & Chemi Gotlibovski & Nava Kahana, 2025. "Human Capital and Labor Supply Decisions in Immigrant Families: An Alternative Test of the Family Investment Hypothesis," Economies, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-20, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jecomi:v:13:y:2025:i:8:p:211-:d:1707697
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/13/8/211/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/13/8/211/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ana Ferrer & Yazhuo (Annie) Pan & Tammy Schirle, 2023. "The Work Trajectories of Married Canadian Immigrant Women, 2006–2019," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 697-716, December.
    2. Cohen Goldner, Sarit & Eckstein, Zvi & Weiss, Yoram, 2012. "Immigration and Labor Market Mobility in Israel, 1990 to 2009," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262017679, December.
    3. Mark C. Regets & Harriet Orcutt Duleep, 1999. "Immigrants and Human-Capital Investment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 186-191, May.
    4. Sarit Cohen-Goldner & Chemi Gotlibovski & Nava Kahana, 2009. "The role of marriage in immigrants’ human capital investment under liquidity constraints," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 22(4), pages 983-1003, October.
    5. Al?cia Adser? & Ana M. Ferrer, 2014. "The Myth of Immigrant Women as Secondary Workers: Evidence from Canada," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(5), pages 360-364, May.
    6. Bernhardt, Dan & Backus, David, 1990. "Borrowing Constraints, Occupational Choice, and Labor Supply," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 8(1), pages 145-173, January.
    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. Cobb-Clark, Deborah & Crossley, Thomas F., 2004. "Revisiting the family investment hypothesis," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 373-393, June.
    2. Alícia Adserà & Ana M. Ferrer & Virginia Hernanz, 2023. "Differences in Skill Requirements Between Jobs Held by Immigrant and Native Women Across Five European Destinations," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 42(3), pages 1-29, June.
    3. Sarit Cohen-Goldner & Chemi Gotlibovski & Nava Kahana, 2009. "The role of marriage in immigrants’ human capital investment under liquidity constraints," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 22(4), pages 983-1003, October.
    4. Eleni Kalfa & Matloob Piracha, 2017. "Immigrants’ educational mismatch and the penalty of over-education," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(5), pages 462-481, September.
    5. Freitas-Monteiro, Teresa & Ludolph, Lars, 2025. "Barriers to humanitarian migration, victimization and integration outcomes: Evidence from Germany," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    6. Jaeger, David & Duleep, Harriet Orcutt & McHenry, Peter, 2021. "On Immigration and Native Entrepreneurship," CEPR Discussion Papers 15920, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    7. Chiswick, Barry R. & Wang, Zhiling, 2019. "Social Contacts, Dutch Language Proficiency and Immigrant Economic Performance in the Netherlands," GLO Discussion Paper Series 419, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    8. Akgüç, Mehtap & Ferrer, Ana, 2015. "Educational Attainment and Labor Market Performance: An Analysis of Immigrants in France," IZA Discussion Papers 8925, IZA Network @ LISER.
    9. Michael Fertig & Stefanie Schurer, 2007. "Earnings Assimilation of Immigrants in Germany: The Importance of Heterogeneity and Attrition Bias," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 30, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    10. Alicia Adsera & Ana Ferrer, 2014. "Labour Market Progression of Canadian Immigrant Women," RFBerlin Discussion Paper Series 1434, ROCKWOOL Foundation Berlin (RFBerlin).
    11. Chunni Zhang & Yu Xie, 2013. "Place of Origin and Labour Market Outcomes Among Migrant Workers in Urban China," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 50(14), pages 3011-3026, November.
    12. Lars Ludolph, 2021. "The Value of Formal Host-Country Education for the Labour Market Position of Refugees: Evidence from Austria," CESifo Working Paper Series 9241, CESifo.
    13. Crystal Zhan, 2015. "School and neighborhood: residential location choice of immigrant parents in the Los Angeles Metropolitan area," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 28(3), pages 737-783, July.
    14. Christoph Albert & Joan Llull & Albrecht Glitz, 2021. "Labor Market Competition and the Assimilation of Immigrants," Working Papers 1280, Barcelona School of Economics.
    15. Tiago Freire & Xiaoye Li, 2018. "How immigration reduced volunteering in the USA: 2005–2011," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 60(1), pages 119-141, January.
    16. Ludolph, Lars, 2023. "The value of formal host-country education for the labour market position of refugees: evidence from Austria," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 117392, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    17. Weiping Kostenko & Mark Harris & Xueyan Zhao, 2012. "Occupational transition and country-of-origin effects in the early stage occupational assimilation of immigrants: some evidence from Australia," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(31), pages 4019-4035, November.
    18. Boudreau, Laura & Heath, Rachel & McCormick, Tyler H., 2024. "Migrants, experience, and working conditions in Bangladeshi garment factories," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 219(C), pages 196-213.
    19. Alicia Adsera & Ana Ferrer, 2015. "Occupational Skills and Labour Market Progression of Canadian Immigrant Women," Working Papers 1504, University of Waterloo, Department of Economics, revised Dec 2015.
    20. Freitas-Monteiro, Teresa & Ludolph, Lars, 2025. "Barriers to humanitarian migration, victimization and integration outcomes: evidence from Germany," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 126235, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    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:gam:jecomi:v:13:y:2025:i:8:p:211-:d:1707697. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.