Abstract
We study the effect of exposure to immigrants on the educational outcomes of U.S.-born students, using a unique dataset combining population-level birth and school records from Florida. This research question is complicated by the substantial school selection of U.S.-born students, especially among White and comparatively affluent students, in response to the presence of immigrant students in the school. We propose a new identification strategy, comparing sibling outcomes with the inclusion of family fixed effects, to partial out the unobserved non-random selection of native-born families into schools. We find that the presence of immigrant students has a positive effect on the academic achievement of U.S.-born students, especially for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Moreover, the presence of immigrants does not negatively affect the performance of affluent U.S.-born students, who typically show a higher academic achievement compared to immigrant students. We provide suggestive evidence on potential channels.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 972-1006 |
| Number of pages | 35 |
| Journal | Review of Economic Studies |
| Volume | 91 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 1 2024 |
Funding
We thank the Editor, Thomas Chaney, and three anonymous referees for comments that greatly improved the paper. We also thank Jennifer Hunt, Andrea Ichino, Victor Lavy, Daniele Paserman, Bruce Sacerdote, and Cynthia van der Werf, as well as participants at various seminars and conferences. For truly outstanding research assistance, we thank Gaia Dossi and Matteo Giugovaz. We are especially grateful to the Florida Departments of Education and Health for providing the linked anonymous population-level administrative data that permitted this analysis to take place. All errors and opinions are those of the authors and do not reflect those of the funders or the Florida Departments of Education and Health. Interested researchers may request access to Florida administrative data through the processes described at fldoe.org/accountability/accountability-reporting/external-research-requests. This research was funded with support from the Russell Sage Foundation. Riccardo Marchingiglio performed this research while affiliated with the Department of Economics at Northwestern University. The views presented are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of Analysis Group, Inc. or its clients. We thank the Editor, Thomas Chaney, and three anonymous referees for comments that greatly improved the paper. We also thank Jennifer Hunt, Andrea Ichino, Victor Lavy, Daniele Paserman, Bruce Sacerdote, and Cynthia van der Werf, as well as participants at various seminars and conferences. For truly outstanding research assistance, we thank Gaia Dossi and Matteo Giugovaz. We are especially grateful to the Florida Departments of Education and Health for providing the linked anonymous population-level administrative data that permitted this analysis to take place. All errors and opinions are those of the authors and do not reflect those of the funders or the Florida Departments of Education and Health. Interested researchers may request access to Florida administrative data through the processes described at fldoe.org/accountability/accountability-reporting/external-research-requests. This research was funded with support from the Russell Sage Foundation. Riccardo Marchingiglio performed this research while affiliated with the Department of Economics at Northwestern University. The views presented are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of Analysis Group, Inc. or its clients.
Keywords
- Educational attainment
- Immigrant students
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Economics and Econometrics