What Drives U.S. Immigration Policy? Evidence from Congressional Roll Call Votes

Giovanni Facchini, Max Steinhardt, Mon, 03/21/2011

Which legislators are more likely to vote for more liberal immigration policies for unskilled workers? The authors of CEPR DP8299 develop and empirically test a model which correlates the skill composition of constituent voters with their legislator's voting record on migration policy. The DP finds that representatives from districts with more high-skilled workers consistently vote for more expansive unskilled immigration policies.

Vox users can download CEPR Discussion Paper 8299 for free here. To learn more about subscribing to CEPR's Discussion Paper Series, please visit the CEPR website.

Journalists are entitled to free DP downloads on request; please contact [email protected]. To learn more about subscribing to CEPR's Discussion Paper Series, please visit the CEPR website.

URL: www.cepr.org/pubs/dps/DP8299.asp

Topics: Migration Politics and economics

Tags: immigration policy, voting, Political Economy