{
  "title": "Do Interest Groups Affect U.S. Immigration Policy?",
  "publication": "IMF Working Papers, October 1, 2008",
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  "summary": "While anecdotal evidence suggests that interest groups play a key role in shaping immigration policy, there is no systematic empirical analysis of this issue.",
  "sections": [
    {
      "heading": "Research question and scope",
      "content": "- Investigates whether interest groups play a systematic role in shaping U.S. immigration policy.\n- Constructs an industry-level dataset for the United States by combining information on the number of temporary work visas with data on lobbying activity associated with immigration.\n- Focus on sectoral variation in migration outcomes and the political economy determinants of barriers to migration."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Data and methodology",
      "content": "- Industry-level dataset linking:\n  - number of temporary work visas (by sector)\n  - lobbying activity associated with immigration (by sector)\n- Empirical strategy examines how variation in lobbying expenditures and union importance across sectors relates to migration outcomes.\n- Pages: 56\n- Volume: 2008\n- Issue: 244\n- Series: Working Paper No. 2008/244"
    },
    {
      "heading": "Key findings",
      "content": "- \"We find robust evidence that both pro- and anti-immigration interest groups play a statistically significant and economically relevant role in shaping migration across sectors.\"\n- Barriers to migration are lower in sectors in which business interest groups incur larger lobby expenditures.\n- Barriers to migration are higher in sectors where labor unions are more important."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Policy-relevant implications",
      "content": "- Interest group activity (both pro- and anti-immigration) can materially influence sectoral migration outcomes.\n- Policymakers should consider the asymmetric influence of business lobbying and labor union strength when assessing sectoral migration policies and labor market adjustments.\n- Recognizing the political economy drivers can inform design of immigration policies that better align with labor market needs across sectors.\n\n---\n\n Content in this bundle\n\n- wp08244\n  - wp08244 (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n  - wp08244 (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n\n---\n\nSource: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/wp/issues/2016/12/31/do-interest-groups-affect-u-s-22377"
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    "Authors: Prachi Mishra, Giovanni Facchini, Anna Maria Mayda",
    "Published: October 1, 2008",
    "Series: IMF Working Papers",
    "DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781451871029.001",
    "Investigates whether interest groups play a systematic role in shaping U.S. immigration policy.",
    "Constructs an industry-level dataset for the United States by combining information on the number of temporary work visas with data on lobbying activity associated with immigration.",
    "Focus on sectoral variation in migration outcomes and the political economy determinants of barriers to migration.",
    "Industry-level dataset linking:",
    "Empirical strategy examines how variation in lobbying expenditures and union importance across sectors relates to migration outcomes.",
    "Pages: 56",
    "Volume: 2008",
    "Issue: 244",
    "Series: Working Paper No. 2008/244",
    "\"We find robust evidence that both pro- and anti-immigration interest groups play a statistically significant and economically relevant role in shaping migration across sectors.\"",
    "Barriers to migration are lower in sectors in which business interest groups incur larger lobby expenditures.",
    "Barriers to migration are higher in sectors where labor unions are more important.",
    "Interest group activity (both pro- and anti-immigration) can materially influence sectoral migration outcomes.",
    "Policymakers should consider the asymmetric influence of business lobbying and labor union strength when assessing sectoral migration policies and labor market adjustments.",
    "Recognizing the political economy drivers can inform design of immigration policies that better align with labor market needs across sectors.",
    "**_wp08244**"
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