RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Immigration and the Human Capital of Natives
JF Journal of Human Resources
JO J Hum Resour
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 34
OP 71
DO 10.3368/jhr.50.1.34
VO 50
IS 1
A1 Peter McHenry
YR 2015
UL http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/50/1/34.abstract
AB Large low-skilled immigration flows influence both the distribution of local school resources and also local relative wages, which exert counterbalancing pressures on the local return to schooling. I use the National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS:88) and U.S. Census data to show that low-skilled immigration to an area induces local natives to improve their performance in school, attain more years of schooling, and take jobs that involve communication-intensive tasks for which they (native English speakers) have a comparative advantage. These results point out mechanisms that mitigate the potentially negative effect of immigration on natives’ wages.