Avitabile, Ciro, Clots-Figueras, Irma and Masella, Paolo (2014) Citizenship, fertility, and parental investments. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 6 (4). pp. 35-65. ISSN 1945-7782

PDF (For REF only) - Published Version Restricted to SRO admin only Download (1MB)

Abstract

Citizenship rights are associated with better economic opportunities for immigrants. This paper studies how in a country with a large fraction of temporary migrants the fertility decisions of foreign citizens respond to a change in the rules that regulate child legal status at birth. The introduction of birthright citizenship in Germany in 2000, represented a positive shock to the returns to investment in child human capital. Consistent with Becker's "quality-quantity" model of fertility, we find that birthright citizenship leads to a reduction in immigrant fertility and an improvement in health and socio-emotional outcomes for the children affected by the reform.

Item Type:	Article
Schools and Departments:	University of Sussex Business School > Economics
Depositing User:	Paolo Masella
Date Deposited:	20 Apr 2015 14:38
Last Modified:	10 Aug 2020 15:27
URI:	http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/53696

View download statistics for this item

📧 Request an update