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Does Legal Status Matter for Educational Choices? Evidence from Immigrant Teenagers

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  • Zachary Liscow
  • William Gui Woolston

Abstract

Of the estimated 11.1 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, 1.1 million are children. Due to differential treatment in the labor market, teenage undocumented immigrants face low returns to schooling. To measure the effect of legal status on the educational choices of Hispanic teenagers, we compare siblings who differ in their legal status due to their birth country. We find that teenagers who were born in Mexico are 2.7 percentage points more likely to be out of school than their U.S.- born siblings. Alternative explanations, such as differences in prenatal or childhood environment, appear largely unable to explain this result, suggesting that legal status has a significant impact on schooling decisions. After accounting for these alternative explanations to the extent possible and using proxies for legal status in the U.S. Census, our results suggest that being undocumented roughly doubles high school students’ dropout rate relative to their U.S.-born siblings, with substantial wage decreases implied by back-of-the-envelope calculations.

Suggested Citation

  • Zachary Liscow & William Gui Woolston, 2018. "Does Legal Status Matter for Educational Choices? Evidence from Immigrant Teenagers," American Law and Economics Review, American Law and Economics Association, vol. 20(2), pages 318-381.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:amlawe:v:20:y:2018:i:2:p:318-381.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/aler/ahy006
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    Cited by:

    1. Ortega, Francesc & Hsin, Amy, 2022. "Occupational barriers and the productivity penalty from lack of legal status," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    2. Jácome, Elisa, 2022. "The effect of immigration enforcement on crime reporting: Evidence from Dallas," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    3. Navid Sabet, 2023. "Out of the Shadows and into the Classroom: Immigrant Legalization, Hispanic Schooling and Hispanic Representation on School Boards," CESifo Working Paper Series 10677, CESifo.
    4. Elisa Jacome, 2018. "The Effect of Immigration Enforcement on Crime Reporting: Evidence from the Priority Enforcement Program," Working Papers 624, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..

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