Immigration: Economics, Policy, and Politics

Posted by University of Pennsylvania on January 11, 2016

Penn Program on Democracy, Citizenship and Constitutionalism

IMMIGRATION
Economics, Policy, and Politics

Wed. January 13 / 12:00pm (lunch provided)
Silverstein Forum, Stiteler Hall 1st Floor (Accessibility)
http://www.facilities.upenn.edu/sites/default/files/pennaccess/PA0550-StitelerHall.pdf

THIS MONTH’S PAPERS EXPLORE IMMIGRATION. Bringing together the perspectives of economics and history, the papers highlight important themes for understanding and crafting immigration policy.

Sarah Coleman (History, Princeton)
“To reward the wrong way is not the American way”: Welfare,
Immigrants Rights and the Battle over Benefits 1990 -1997 (PDF)
https://www.sas.upenn.edu/dcc/sites/www.sas.upenn.edu.dcc/files/uploads/Coleman%20paper%20for%20DCC.pdf

Sarah’s paper examines the domestic political debate over welfare benefits for immigrants, and the resulting policy shifts which culminated in the stripping of federal welfare eligibility for most non-citizens in 1996. She looks at the battle in California in the early 1990s over immigrants’ access to welfare and how it influenced national policy.

Alberto Ciancio (Economics, UPenn)
The Economics of Local Immigration Enforcement in the United States (PDF)
https://www.sas.upenn.edu/dcc/sites/www.sas.upenn.edu.dcc/files/uploads/Ciancio%20Paper.pdf

Alberto Ciancio’s paper explores the labor market consequences and the economic determinants of immigration enforcement in the United States. Based on an analysis of county-level data, he argues that deportation intensity and employer restrictions do not seem to induce immigrants to leave the county, but rather to accept lower-paying jobs.

http://www.sas.upenn.edu/dcc/event/graduate-workshop-immigration-economics-policy-and-politics