Arbeitspapier

Do interest groups affect immigration?

While anecdotal evidence suggests that interest groups play a key role in shaping immigration, there is no systematic empirical evidence on this issue. To motivate our analysis, we develop a simple theoretical model where migration policy is the result of the interaction between organized groups with conflicting interests towards labor flows. We evaluate the key predictions of the model using a new, industry-level dataset from the United States that we construct by combining information on the total number of immigrants and H1B visas with data on lobbying expenditures associated with immigration. We find robust evidence that both pro- and anti-immigration interest groups play a statistically significant and economically relevant role in shaping migration across sectors. Barriers to migration are lower in sectors in which business lobbies incur larger lobbying expenditures and higher in sectors where labor unions are more important.

Language
Englisch

Bibliographic citation
Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 3183

Classification
Wirtschaft
International Migration
Subject
Immigration
immigration policy
interest groups
political economy
Migrationspolitik
Einwanderungsrecht
Interessenpolitik
Wirkungsanalyse
USA

Event
Geistige Schöpfung
(who)
Facchini, Giovanni
Mayda, Anna Maria
Mishra, Prachi
Event
Veröffentlichung
(who)
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
(where)
Bonn
(when)
2007

Handle
Last update
10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET

Data provider

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Object type

  • Arbeitspapier

Associated

  • Facchini, Giovanni
  • Mayda, Anna Maria
  • Mishra, Prachi
  • Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

Time of origin

  • 2007

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