Labor Market Competition and Individual Preferences Over Immigration Policy -Scheve and Slaughter Reviewed By: Amie Pittner Thomas Ford

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Labor Market Competition and Individual
Preferences Over Immigration Policy-Scheve and
SlaughterReviewed ByAmie PittnerThomas Ford
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Research Question

• What are the determinants of individual
  preferences on immigration policy?
• Dependent Variable Individual Preferences
• Explanatory Variables
• Non-Economic
• Economic

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Author Motivation

• Migration is recognized by the author as being an
  important issue both politically and
  economically.
• Academic Debate
• Different economic models make contrasting
  predictions about the nature of a wage-mediated
  link between skills and immigration policy
  preferences
• Hecksher-Ohlin Model
• Immigrants sometime have no effect on native
  wages
• Factors Proportions Analysis
• Immigrants pressure the wages of similarly
  skilled native workers nationwide.
• Area Analysis Model
• Immigrants pressure wages of similarly skilled
  workers only in gateway communities where
  immigrants settle.
• Empirical Uncertainty
• Uncertainty exists regarding whether individuals
  consider labour market competition when
  evaluating immigration policy.

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Argument

• There is a link between labor skills and
  preferences on immigration policy.
• Impact on native market returns (explanatory
  variable) affects individual preferences towards
  immigration policy (dependent variable).
• Proximity to high-immigration markets does not
  affect preferences.

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Hypothesis

• Scheve and Slaughter believe that the economic
  determinants of an individuals immigration
  policy preferences depend on how an
  immigration-induced shift in the U.S. relative
  endowment towards less-skilled workers affects
  that individuals factor income.
• -preferences
  depend on how immigration will effect an
  individuals income.
• Expects to find a pattern of more-restrictive
  preferences among those more effected by
  increased immigration inflows, mostly
  low-skilled/low wage workers. They also expect to
  find more open attitudes among highly-skilled/high
  wage workers because of the minimal effect the
  immigrants will have on them.

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Research Design - Sample

• Years 1992, 1994, 1996
• Unit Individuals
• Size NES Survey

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Research Design - Measures

• Dependent Survey Question
• Do you think the number of immigrants from
  foreign countries who are permitted to come to
  the United States to live should be increased a
  little, increased a lot, decreased a little,
  decreased a lot, or left the same as it is now?

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Research Design - Measures

• Independent Variables Economic
• Weekly wages
• Years of education
• Independent Variables Non-Economic
• Area of residence
• Gender, age, race, ethnicity, immigrant status,
  party identification, political ideology

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Empirical Results
1992 1994 1996
regressor Model 1 Model 2 Model 1 model 2 model 1 Model 2
Occupation Wage -0.349 (0.130) -0.811 (0.135) -0.541 (0.133)
Education Years -0.044 (0.010) -0.074 (0.011) -0.059 (0.012)
Gender -0.022 (0.048) -0.008 (0.046) 0.022 (0.056) 0.083 (0.054) -0.020 (0.060) 0.024 (0.057)
Age -0.000 (0.001) -0.002 (0.001) 0.000 (0.002) -0.002 (0.002) 0.004 (0.002) 0.002 (0.002)
African- American -0.207 (0.080) -0.225 (0.080) -0.222 (0.091) -0.211 (0.092) -0.238 (0.096) -0.241 (0.097)
Hispanic -0.064 (0.111) -0.122 (0.110) -0.306 (0.136) -0.360 (0.137) -0.124 (0.120) -0.172 (0.121)
Immigrant -0.158 (0.066) -0.150 (0.066) -0.213 (0.076) -0.193 (0.076) -0.220 (0.087) -0.207 (0.087)
Party ID 0.003 (0.013) 0.008 (0.013) -0.006 (0.016) -0.002 (0.016) -0.023 (0.016) -0.016 (0.072)
Ideology 0.057 (0.020) 0.050 (0.020) 0.054 (0.028) 0.041 (0.029) 0.080 (0.025) 0.072 (0.025)
No. of Observations 2485 2485 1795 1795 1714 1714
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Empirical Results
Uses estimates from Table 1 to calculate the
effect of changing skills and wages on
immigration policy preferences. Increasing
occupation wage and education years reduce the
probability of supporting restrictions.
Decreasing occupation wage and education years
increases probability of supporting restrictive
policies. Empirical evidence supports the
argument that there is a wage-mediated link
between skills and policy preferences. Found low
skilled-workers supporting restrictive policies
because of immigrations effect on income as
expected.
Increase Skill Measure Year Change in Probability of Supporting Immigration Restrictions.
Occupation Wage 1992 -0.086 (0.031)
Education Years -0.126 (0.029)
Occupation Wage 1994 -0.337 (0.050)
Education Years -0.112 (0.019)
Occupation Wage 1996 -0.201 (0.047)
Education Years -0.085 (0.017)
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Criticisms

• Doesnt consider the effects of illegal
  immigration on personal preference formation.
• Doesnt consider that the determinants of
  individual preferences vary by country.
• NES Survey

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Contributions

• Research has provided new evidence on the
  determinants of individual immigration policy
  preferences.
• The results are important for consulting
  empirically useful models of the political
  economy of immigration policymaking in receiving
  states, particularly in mainstream redistributive
  politics over which political parties often
  contest elections
• These findings also shed further light on both on
  how individuals form preferences over
  international economic policies and what these
  preferences imply for the domestic politics of
  countries with significant flows of goods,
  capital, and people across their borders.

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The End