Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/36091 
Year of Publication: 
2009
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 4659
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
The study of welfare participation in the U.S. prior to the 1996 welfare reform act and even afterward has focused on comparisons between native born and immigrant households. Analyses that have gone beyond this broad classification have focused on comparisons across race or with particular focus on particular groups like Hispanic immigrants. To the best of our knowledge, there is no study yet that tests for difference in welfare usage among immigrant groups and immigrant status. We do not expect welfare usage to differ among immigrant groups if we control for the factors that should predict welfare usage. Similarly, if immigration status does not prevent welfare usage for certain immigrants, then ceteris paribus, we do not expect welfare usage to differ among immigrant based on status. We investigate these possibilities by testing three related hypothesis using probability models. Our results suggest that birth place matters and the probability of welfare usage is not the same for all groups. We also find that for some birthplace groups, citizen and non-citizens differ with respect to welfare usage. Finally, we find that post welfare reform, the probability of being on welfare in comparison to U.S. born increased for all immigrant groups and these increases differed across groups. We provide possible explanations for our unexpected results.
Subjects: 
Immigrants
welfare
welfare reform
immigrant status
JEL: 
J2
J24
J38
I21
O12
O15
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
248.28 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.