PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Ballis, Briana
TI  - Dreamers and Beyond
AID  - 10.3368/jhr.0621-11696R2
DP  - 2025 Sep 01
TA  - Journal of Human Resources
PG  - 1507--1559
VI  - 60
IP  - 5
4099  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/60/5/1507.short
4100  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/60/5/1507.full
AB  - This work examines the direct effects and spillover effects of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) on human capital investments during high school. DACA significantly increased the returns to schooling for undocumented youth, while leaving the returns for their U.S.-born peers unchanged. I estimate the impacts of DACA using detailed administrative data from Los Angeles Unified School District. I find that DACA induced undocumented youth to invest more in their education, which also had positive spillover effects on ineligible students (those born in the United States) who attended high school with high concentrations of DACA-eligible youth.