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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: pogara@lsu.edu
James C. Garand, Department of Political Science, Louisiana State University, 205 Stubbs Hall, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA. Email: pogara@lsu.edu
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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

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