The economic returns to citizenship: Evidence from a meta-analysis
Jens Hainmueller, David D Laitin · 2026
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Description
Jens Hainmueller and David D Laitin present a meta-analysis of whether gaining citizenship raises immigrants' earnings, the so-called naturalization premium. People who naturalize differ from those who do not, so separating citizenship's own effect from self-selection is the core problem.
Across sixty preferred estimates from thirty-one studies, the average premium sat near ten percent. Credibility varied sharply by design: the randomized lottery study found almost no effect, a cutoff-based study found a clear gain, and instrumental-variable studies gave the largest, unstable numbers. The authors warn that observational averages should not be sold to policymakers as causal forecasts.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Jens Hainmueller, David D Laitin |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 28 KB |
| LICENSE | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |