Clicking on Heaven's Door: The Effect of Immigrant Legalization on Crime

S-Tier
Journal: American Economic Review
Year: 2017
Volume: 107
Issue: 1
Pages: 138-68

Score contribution per author:

8.043 = (α=2.01 / 1 authors) × 4.0x S-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We estimate the effect of immigrant legalization on the crime rate of immigrants in Italy by exploiting an ideal regression discontinuity design: fixed quotas of residence permits are available each year, applications must be submitted electronically on specific "click days," and are processed on a first come, first served basis until the available quotas are exhausted. Matching data on applications with individual-level criminal records, we show that legalization reduces the crime rate of legalized immigrants by 0.6 percentage points on average, on a baseline crime rate of 1.1 percent.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:aea:aecrev:v:107:y:2017:i:1:p:138-68
Journal Field
General
Author Count
1
Added to Database
2026-01-29