10.1184/R1/6706787.v1
Rebecca Lessem
Rebecca
Lessem
Mexico-U.S. Immigration: Effects of Wages and Border Enforcement
Carnegie Mellon University
1960
Business
Management
1960-12-01 00:00:00
Journal contribution
https://kilthub.cmu.edu/articles/journal_contribution/Mexico-U_S_Immigration_Effects_of_Wages_and_Border_Enforcement/6706787
<p>I study how relative wages and U.S. border enforcement affect immigration from Mexico to the United States. To do this, I estimate a discrete choice dynamic programming model where a person’s decisions depend on the location of their spouse. I use a new identification strategy to estimate the effect of border enforcement on immigration, accounting for the variation in the allocation of resources along the border. I estimate the model using data on individual immigration decisions from the Mexican Migration Project. Counterfactuals show that a 10% increase in Mexican wages would decrease the number of years spent in the U.S. by about 8%. A 50% increase in enforcement reduces immigration by up to 11.6%.</p>