Applied Economics Lunch Seminar

Du 29/06/2021 de 12:30 à 13:30

LUKSIC Juan ()

Can immigration affect neighborhood effects? Accounting for the indirect effects of immigrants on native test scores

Migratory waves can substantially transform neighborhoods. The arrival of immigrants to a neigh-borhood not only mechanically changes the characteristics of the local population but also can triggerrelocation responses from natives, further increasing the changes. Ignoring this indirect effect couldunderestimate the effect of immigrants on the natives who remain in the neighborhood. This paper usestwo different strategies to estimate the effect of immigrants on children’s test scores and shows that theresponses of natives are indeed important. I exploit rich administrative data from Chile and variation inthe neighborhood composition generated by a large increase in the number immigrants arriving to thecountry between 2013 and 2019. Using a shift-share instrument, I show that foreign students worsenneighborhood effects on test scores. An increase of 1 standard deviation in the share of immigrants ina municipality causes a 1.2 percentile decrease in student test scores per year spent. Then, I estimatethe immigrant peer effects and find a precise zero. These results indicate that indirect effects can berelevant. In fact, native flight and an increase in socioeconomic segregation across schools seem to beimportant drivers of my results.