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Corresponding Author:
Richard J. Cebula, Davis College of Business, Jacksonville University, Jacksonville, Florida, USA

Coauthors:
Maggie Foley, Jacksonville University, Davis College of Business, Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.A

The Effect of Labor Market Freedom and other Factors on U.S. Settlement Pattern Decisions of Undocumented Immigrants, 2012 and 2014

Volume 70 - Issue 2, May 2017
(pp. 133-152)
JEL classification: J49, J61, P12, P19
Keywords: Settlement Pattern of Undocumented Immigrants, Settlement Pattern at the End of 2012, Labor Market Freedom, Quality of Life, Economic Factors, 2014 Robustness Test

Abstract

This empirical study seeks to identify key determinants of the recent post-Great settlement pattern of undocumented immigrants inside the U.S. Among the potential determining factors considered are the degree of labor market freedom, the quality of life, and Sanctuary cities. The focus is the year 2012, which has not by itself as yet been studied for this purpose. The estimation results provided in this study imply that the state-level settlement pattern of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. was an increasing function of labor market freedom, the number of Sanctuary cities, and the overall quality-of-life index, as well as per capita personal income, while being a decreasing function of the cost of living and colder climate. Furthermore, the impacts of labor market freedom and the other variables in the model are affirmed using a modest robustness test involving a semi-log estimate for the 2014 settlement pattern of undocumented immigrants.

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The Effect of Labor Market Freedom and other Factors on U.S. Settlement Pattern Decisions of Undocumented Immigrants, 2012 and 2014

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Institute for International Economics of the Genoa Chamber of Commerce

Institute for International Economics
of the Genoa Chamber of Commerce