TY - JOUR
T1 - The Effect of Immigration Restrictions on Local Labor Markets
T2 - Lessons from the 1920s Border Closure
AU - Abramitzky, Ran
AU - Ager, Philipp
AU - Boustan, Leah
AU - Cohen, Elior
AU - Hansen, Casper W.
N1 - Funding Information:
*Abramitzky: Stanford University and NBER (email: ranabr@stanford.edu); Ager: University of Mannheim and CEPR (email: philipp.ager@uni-mannheim.de); Boustan: Princeton University and NBER (email: lboustan@ princeton.edu); Cohen: Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City (email: elior.cohen@kc.frb.org); Hansen: University of Copenhagen and CEPR (email: casper.worm.hansen@econ.ku.dk). David Deming was coeditor for this article. We received valuable feedback from Jaime Arellano-Bover, Chris Becker, Hoyt Bleakley, Brian Cadena, Alvaro Calderon, Michael Clemens, Carl-Johan Dalgaard, Dave Donaldson, James Fenske, Paola Giuliano, Walker Hanlon, Stephan Heblich, Jeanne Lafortune, Ethan Lewis, Robert Margo, Melanie Morten, Petra Moser, Nathan Nunn, Nancy Qian, Paul Rhode, Isaac Sorkin, Sandra Sequeira, Daniel Sturm, José Tessada, Marco Tabellini, Marianne Wanamaker, Zach Ward, Jeff Williamson, Asger Moll Wingender, Niko Wolf, Ariell Zimran, and various seminar and workshop participants at the American Economic Association, the Economic Demography Workshop in Denver, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Fordham, Groningen, Humboldt University, Lund University, London School of Economics, University of Mannheim, Northwestern, NYU, Oxford, Princeton, Queens College, UCLA, University of Copenhagen, Urban Economics Association, and Wharton. Ager and Hansen gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Danish Research Council grant No. DFF—4182-00043. The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City or the Federal Reserve System. All mistakes are our own.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics. All Rights Reserved.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - In the 1920s, the United States substantially reduced immigration by imposing country-specific entry quotas. We compare local labor markets differentially exposed to the quotas due to variation in the national-origin mix of their immigrant population. US-born workers in areas losing immigrants did not benefit relative to workers in less exposed areas. Instead, in urban areas, European immigrants were replaced with internal migrants and immigrants from Mexico and Canada. By contrast, farmers shifted toward capital-intensive agriculture, and the immigrant-intensive mining industry contracted. These differences highlight the uneven effects of the quota system at the local level.
AB - In the 1920s, the United States substantially reduced immigration by imposing country-specific entry quotas. We compare local labor markets differentially exposed to the quotas due to variation in the national-origin mix of their immigrant population. US-born workers in areas losing immigrants did not benefit relative to workers in less exposed areas. Instead, in urban areas, European immigrants were replaced with internal migrants and immigrants from Mexico and Canada. By contrast, farmers shifted toward capital-intensive agriculture, and the immigrant-intensive mining industry contracted. These differences highlight the uneven effects of the quota system at the local level.
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U2 - 10.1257/app.20200807
DO - 10.1257/app.20200807
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85163277432
SN - 1945-7782
VL - 15
SP - 164
EP - 191
JO - American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
JF - American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
IS - 1
ER -