JUE Insight: Immigration and native intergenerational mobility in the United States

Immigration continues to shape the economic and political debate in the United States. Yet, we surprisingly know little about the impact of immigration on the economic mobility of native children. Using recent data on changes in mobility and an identification strategy based on initial settlement patterns of immigrants, I study whether the large increase in the immigrant population between 1980 and 2010 had an impact on native intergenerational mobility. Despite concerns about immigration hurting native children, I find that the impact of immigration on native mobility is statistically insignificant. Moreover, I can rule out economically large effects. I show that this result can be explained by the insignificant impact of immigration on socioeconomic mechanisms previously associated with intergenerational mobility, such as parental employment or incarceration rates.