Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/327691 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 12081
Publisher: 
Munich Society for the Promotion of Economic Research - CESifo GmbH, Munich
Abstract: 
We study how immigrant legalization affects political representation and public service delivery, focusing on the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), which granted legal status to nearly three million undocumented Hispanic migrants. Using geographic variation in IRCA exposure and newly digitized data on 12,000 Hispanic officials, we find legalization increased Hispanic representation in local government and facilitated upward mobility from school boards into municipal and county offices. These changes altered institutional behavior, shifting education spending toward capital investment and diversifying the racial composition of the teaching workforce. Immigration policy thus reshapes who governs and how public goods are allocated.
Subjects: 
legalization
political representation
political mobility
local public finance
JEL: 
J15
H75
D72
I28
J61
Document Type: 
Working Paper
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