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Do Interest Groups Affect U.S. Immigration Policy?
Author:
Ms. Prachi Mishra
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,
Giovanni Facchininull

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Anna Maria Maydanull

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Series:
IMF Working Papers
Volume/Issue:
Volume 2008: Issue 244
Language:
English
Publication Date:
01 Oct 2008
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5089/9781451871029.001
ISBN:
9781451871029
ISSN:
1018-5941
Pages:
56
Keywords:
WP; lobbying expenditure; membership rate; number of visa; native worker; political economy
Legal-disclaimer:
IMF Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to encourage debate. The views expressed in IMF Working Papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management.
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While anecdotal evidence suggests that interest groups play a key role in shaping immigration policy, there is no systematic empirical analysis of this issue. In this paper, we construct an industry-level dataset for the United States, by combining information on the number of temporary work visas with data on lobbying activity associated with immigration. We find robust evidence that both pro- and anti-immigration interest groups play a statistically significant and economically relevant role in shaping migration across sectors. Barriers to migration are lower in sectors in which business interest groups incur larger lobby expenditures and higher in sectors where labor unions are more important.
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Cover IMF Working Papers
IMF Working Papers
ISSN:
1018-5941
Publisher:
International Monetary Fund
Volume 2008: Issue 244