Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T20:48:52.409Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Imported Inequality? Immigration and Income Inequality in the American States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2021

Ping Xu ,
James C. Garand  and
Ling Zhu
Ping Xu*
Affiliation:
University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI, USA
James C. Garand*
Affiliation:
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA
Ling Zhu
Affiliation:
University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA
*
James C. Garand, Department of Political Science, Louisiana State University, 205 Stubbs Hall, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA. Email: [email protected]
James C. Garand, Department of Political Science, Louisiana State University, 205 Stubbs Hall, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In this article, we use data from the American states from 1996 to 2008 to explore the effects of immigration on income inequality. Empirical evidence from both static and dynamic models shows that the foreign-born population has a strong positive effect on state-level income inequality, even when we control for a range of federal and state political and economic contextual variables. We also find that the positive relationship between immigration and state income inequality is driven primarily by low-skill immigrants (rather than high-skill immigrants), and we provide some evidence that high-skill immigrants lower income inequality for some segments of the income distribution. We conclude that immigration—particularly low-skilled immigration—has an important effect on income inequality in the American states.

Keywords

Immigrationincome inequality
Type
Research Article
Information
State Politics & Policy Quarterly , Volume 16 , Issue 2 , June 2016 , pp. 147 - 171
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2015

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alderson, Arthur S., and Nielsen, François. 2002. “Globalization and the Great U-Turn: Income Inequality Trends in 16 OECD Countries.” American Journal of Sociology 107 (5): 1244–99.. doi:10.1086/341329.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Altonji, Joseph, and Card, David. 1991. “The Effects of Immigration on the Labor Market Outcomes of Less-Skilled Natives.” In Immigration, Trade and the Labor Market, eds.J., Abowd and R. B. Freeman. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 201–34.Google Scholar
Bartels, Larry. 2008. Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Bartels, Larry. 2009. “Income Inequality and Political Representation.” In The Unsustainable American State, eds. Lawrence Jacobs and Desmond King.New York: Oxford University Press, 167–96.Google Scholar
Benard, Andrew B., and Bradford Jensen, J.. 1998. Understanding Increasing and Decreasing Wage Inequality. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berry, William D., Ringquist, Evan J., Fording, Richard C., and Hanson, Russell L.. 1998. “Measuring Citizen and Government Ideology in the American States, 1960-93.” American Journal of Political Science 42 (1): 327–48..CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Borjas, George J. 1994. “The Economics of Immigration.” Journal of Economic Literature 32:1667–1717.Google Scholar
Borjas, George J. 2000. Issues in the Economics of Immigration. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Borjas, George J. 2004. Increasing the Supply of Labor through Immigration: Measuring the Impact on Native-Born Workers. Washington, DC: Center for Immigration Studies.Google Scholar
Borjas, George J., Freeman, Richard B., and Katz, Lawrence F.. 1997. How Much Do Immigration and Trade Affect Labor Market Outcomes? Brookings Papers on Economic Activity. http://www.hks.harvard.edu/fs/gborjas/publications/journal/Brookings1997.pdf.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradley, David, Huber, Evelyne, Moller, Stephanie, Nielsen, Francois, and Stephens, John. 2003. “Distribution and Redistribution in Post-industrial Democracies.” World Politics 55 (2):193–228..CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Camarota, Steven A. 2012. Immigrants in the United States: A Profile of America's Foreign-Born Population. Washington, DC: Center for Immigration Studies.Google Scholar
Card, David. 1990. “The Impact of the Mariel Boatlift on the Miami Labor Market.” Industrial and Labor Relations Review 43 (2): 245–57..CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Card, David. 2007. How Immigration Affects U.S. Cities. Vol. CDP No 11/07. London: Center for Research and Analysis of Migration.Google Scholar
Card, David. 2009. “Immigration and Inequality.” Paper presented at the Meeting of the American Economic Association, San Francisco, CA, January 3–5.Google Scholar
Chevan, Albert, and Stokes, Randall. 2000. “Growth in Family Income Inequality, 1970-1990: Industrial Restructuring and Demographic Change.” Demography 37 (3): 365–80..CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crenshaw, Edward, and Ansari Ameen. 1994. “The Distribution of Income across National Populations: Testing Multiple Paradigms.” Social Science Research 23:1–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Boef, Suzanna. 2001. “Modeling Equilibrium Relationships: Error Correction Models with Strongly Autoregressive Data.” Political Analysis 9 (1): 78–94..CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Boef, Suzanna, and Granato, Jim. 1997. “Near-Integrated Data and the Analysis of Political Relationships.” American Journal of Political Science 41 (4): 619–40..Google Scholar
De Boef, Suzanna, and Keele, Luke. 2008. “Taking Time Seriously.” American Journal of Political Science 52 (1): 184–200..CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeNavas-Walt, Carmen, and Proctor, Bernadette D.. 2014. Income and Poverty in the United States: 2013. https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2014/demo/p60-249.pdf.Google Scholar
Dooley, Martin, and Gottschalk, Peter. 1985. “The Increasing Proportion of Men with Low Earnings in the United States.” Demography 22:25–34.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fording, Richard C. 1997. “The Conditional Effect of Violence as a Political Tactic: Mass Insurgency, Welfare Generosity, and Electoral Context in the American States.” American Journal of Political Science 41:1–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garand, James. 2010. “Income Inequality, Party Polarization, and Roll-Call Voting in the U.S. Senate.” Journal of Politics 72 (4): 1109–28..CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldin, Claudia Dale, and Katz, Lawrence F.. 2008. The Race between Education and Technology. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Gottschalk, Peter. 1997. “Inequality, Income Growth, and Mobility: The Basic Facts.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 11 (2): 21–40..CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grant, Don Sherman, and Wallace, Michael. 1994. “The Political Economy of Manufacturing Growth and Decline across the American States, 1970–1985.” Social Forces 73 (1): 33–63..CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guetzkow, Joshua, Western, Bruce, and Rosenfeld, Jake. 2007. State-Level Data on Income Inequality: 1963–2003. http://www.inequalitydata.org/Google Scholar
Hacker, Jacob, and Pierson, Jeffrey G.. 2010. Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer and Turned Its Back on the Middle Class. New York: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Hainmueller, Jens, and Hiscox, Michael J.. 2010. “Attitudes toward Highly Skilled and Low-Skilled Immigration: Evidence from a Survey Experiment.” American Political Science Review 104:61–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hanson, Gordon H., Boeri, Tito, and McCormick, Barry. 2002. Immigration Policy and the Welfare System. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hatton, Timothy, and Williamson, Jeffrey G.. 1998. The Age of Mass Migration: Causes and Economic Impact. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hero, Rodney E., and Preuhs, Robert R.. 2007. “Immigration and the Evolving American Welfare State: Examining Policies in the U.S. States.” American Journal of Political Science 51 (3): 498–517..CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hirsch, Barry T. 2012. Unionstats.com: Union Membership and Coverage Database from the CPS. http://unionstats.com/Google Scholar
Hoefer, Michael, Rytina, Nancy, and Baker, Bryan. 2011. Estimates of the Unauthorized Immigrant Population Residing in the United States: January 2011. Washington, DC: Homeland Security. http://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/ois_ill_pe_2012_2.pdfGoogle Scholar
Jacobs, David. 1985. “Unequal Organizations or Unequal Attainments? An Empirical Comparison of Sectoral and Individualistic Explanations for Aggregate Inequality.” American Sociological Review 50:166–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobs, Lawrence R., and Skocpol, Theda. 2005. Inequality and American Democracy: What We Know and What We Need to Learn. New York: Russell Sage.Google Scholar
Kelly, Nathan J. 2009. The Politics of Income Inequality in the United States. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelly, Nathan J., and Enns, Peter K.. 2010. “Inequality and the Dynamics of Public Opinion: The Self-Reinforcing Link between Economic Inequality and Mass Preferences.” American Journal of Political Science 54 (4): 855–70..CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelly, Nathan J., and Witko, Christopher. 2012. “Federalism and American Inequality.” Journal of Politics 74 (2): 414–26..CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Korpi, Walter, and Palme, Joakim. 2003. “New Politics and Class Politics in the Context of Austerity and Globalization: Welfare State Regress in 18 Countries, 1975–95.” American Political Science Review 97:425–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuznets, Simon. 1953. Shares of Upper Income Groups in Income and Savings. New York: National Bureau of Economic Activity.Google Scholar
Kuznets, Simon 1955. “Economic Growth and Income Inequality.” American Economic Review 45:1–28.Google Scholar
LaLonde, Robert J., and Topel, Robert H.. 1991. “Labor Market Adjustments to Increased Immigration,” In Immigration, Trade, and the Labor Market, eds. Abowd, John M. and Freeman, Richard B.. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 167–99.Google Scholar
Levy, Frank, and Temin, Peter. 2007. “Inequality and Institutions in 20th Century America.” MIT Department of Economics Working Paper 07-17. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=984330.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malhotra, Neil, Margolit, Yotam, and Mo, Cecilia Hyunjung. 2013. “Economic Explanations for Opposition to Immigration: Distinguishing between Prevalence and Conditional Impact.” American Journal of Political Science 57:391–410.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCarty, Nolan M., Poole, Keith T., and Rosenthal, Howard. 2006. Polarized America: The Dance of Ideology and Unequal Riches. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Moore, Eric G., and Pacey, Michael A.. 2003. “Changing Income Inequality and Immigration in Canada, 1980-1995.” Canadian Public Policy/Analyse De Politiques 29 (1): 33–52..CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nielsen, François, and Alderson, Arthur S.. 1997. “The Kuznets Curve and the Great U-Turn: Patterns of Income Inequality in United States Counties, 1970-1990.” American Sociological Review 62:12–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Passel, Jeffrey S. 2005. “Estimates of the Size and Characteristics of the Undocumented Population.” Research Report of the Pew Hispanic Center, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Preuhs, Robert R. 2007. “Descriptive Representation as a Mechanism to Mitigate Policy Backlash: Latino Incorporation and Welfare Policy in the American States.” Political Research Quarterly 60:277–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Putnam, Robert. 2000. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Reed, Deborah. 2001. “Immigration and Males' Earnings Inequality in the Regions of the United States.” Demography 38 (3): 363–73..CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reeves, Richard V., and Venator, Joanna. 2014. Immigration and the American Dream, Part 1. http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/social-mobility-memos/posts/2014/06/19-immigration-american-dream-reeves.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richardson, J. David 1995. “Income Inequality and Trade: How to Think, What to Conclude.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 9 (3): 33–55..CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rodwin, Lloyd, and Sazanami, Hidehiko. 1991. Industrial Change and Regional Economic Transformation: The Experience of Western Europe. London: HarperCollins.Google Scholar
Ryan, Camille L., and Siebens, Julie. 2012. Educational Attainment in the United States: 2009. Vol. P20-566. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration, U.S. Census Bureau.Google Scholar
Skocpol, Theda. 2003. Diminished Democracy: From Membership to Management in American Civic Life. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.Google Scholar
Solt, Frederick. 2008. “Economic Inequality and Democratic Political Engagement.” American Journal of Political Science 52 (1): 48–60..CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soss, Joe, and Jacobs, Laurence. 2010. “The Politics of Inequality in America: A Political Economy Framework.” Annual Review of Political Science 13:341–64.Google Scholar
Thurow, Lester C. 1987. “A Surge in Inequality.” Scientific American 256:30–37.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Treas, Judith. 1987. “The Effect of Women's Labor Force Participation on the Distribution of Income in the United States.” Annual Review of Sociology 13:259–88.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tufte, Edward R. 1980. Political Control of the Economy. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Williamson, Jeffrey G. 1997. “Globalization and Inequality, Past and Present.” The World Bank Research Observer 12 (2): 117–35..CrossRefGoogle Scholar