The inter-generational value of a green card: evidence from the CSPA of 1992

ABSTRACT

We examine the impact of the Chinese Student Protection Act (CSPA) of 1992 on the children of those who likely received Green Cards under the US legislation. Using a differences-in-differences methodology with the American Community Survey from 2001–2017, we find that having immediate access to a Green Card for mainland Chinese mothers had a positive impact on their children, while mainland Chinese fathers’ Green Card eligibility does not affect children’s outcomes. Our findings highlight the importance of mother’s employment and earnings on children’s human capital development. It appears that the CSPA has served to enhance the human capital outcomes of second-generation Chinese immigrants.

KEYWORDS:

• Inter-generational
• green card
• immigrants
• human capital
• CSPA

JEL CLASSIFICATION:

• J60
• I00

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the The Major Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China [71790593];The National Science Foundation for Young Scholars of China under Grant [71703036];the Innovation Group Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China [71521061].