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Granting Birthright Citizenship - A Door Opener for Immigrant Children's Educational Participation and Success

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  • Christina Felfe
  • Judith Saurer

Abstract

Does granting birthright citizenship help immigrant children integrating in the host country’s educational system? We address this question using a reform of the German naturalization law in 1999 that entitled children born after January 1, 2000 with birthright citizenship. We use a difference-in-difference design that compares children born shortly before and after the cut-off in years of policy change and years where no policy change took place. Our empirical analysis relies on administrative data from school entrance examinations and on the German Micro Census. We find positive effects on immigrant children’s educational participation, both in non-mandatory preschool and upper secondary school. In addition, birthright citizenship enhances children‘s socio-behavioral development.

Suggested Citation

  • Christina Felfe & Judith Saurer, 2014. "Granting Birthright Citizenship - A Door Opener for Immigrant Children's Educational Participation and Success," CESifo Working Paper Series 4959, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_4959
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    Cited by:

    1. Lemmermann, Dominique & Riphahn, Regina T., 2018. "The causal effect of age at migration on youth educational attainment," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 78-99.
    2. Regina T. Riphahn & Salwan Saif, 2019. "Naturalization and labor market performance of immigrants in Germany," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 33(1), pages 48-76, March.
    3. von Haaren-Giebel, Friederike, 2016. "Naturalisation and Investments in Children's Human Capital: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," Hannover Economic Papers (HEP) dp-576, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät.
    4. Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina & Gratereaux Hernández, Carlos & Pozo, Susan, 2017. "On the Implications of Immigration Policy Restricting Citizenship: Evidence from the Dominican Republic," IZA Discussion Papers 10602, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Michael Weber, 2016. "The short-run and long-run effects of decentralizing public employment services," ifo Working Paper Series 209, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    6. Christina Felfe & Judith Saurer & Anita Fichtl & Anita Dietrich, 2015. "German From Birth: the Influence of Nationality on Education Participation and Success," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 68(24), pages 17-22, December.
    7. Friedericke von Haaren-Giebel, 2016. "Naturalisation and Investments in Children's Human Capital: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 854, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • K37 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Immigration Law

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