The Effect of Birthright Citizenship on Parental Integration Outcomes

Abstract

The integration of immigrants is the subject of ongoing public debate, and devising measures to enable the assimilation of newcomers is high on the political agendas of many countries. This paper focuses on the legal institution of citizenship and analyzes the consequences of birthright citizenship introduced in Germany. Based on the exogenous variation provided by the 1999 reform of the German nationality law, we study the effect of child legal status on the integration of immigrant parents. We find that foreign born parents are more likely to interact with the local community and use the German language if their children are entitled to German citizenship at birth.

Understanding Membership in a World of Global Migration: (How) Does Citizenship Matter?

“…Exploiting the exogenous shock of extending birthright citizenship in Germany to certain babies born after 2000, Avitabile, Clots-Figueras, andMasella (2013) find that having a child granted German citizenship produced a significant increase in parents' probability of socializing with Germans and reading German newspapers (but no statistically significant difference in using the German language) even though parents' status did not change. Children granted birthright citizenship were also less likely to be obese, had fewer behavioral problems and greater well-being, as reported by parents (Avitabile, Clots-Figueras, and Masella 2014). The authors adopt economist Gary Becker's "quality-quantity" model of fertility to explain these outcomes: parents with citizen offspring had fewer children, which supposedly let parents invest more in citizen children.…”

“…In a parallel way, a family member's citizenship might carry positive externalities. Exploiting the exogenous shock of extending birthright citizenship in Germany to certain babies born after 2000, Avitabile, Clots‐Figueras, and Masella () find that having a child granted German citizenship produced a significant increase in parents’ probability of socializing with Germans and reading German newspapers (but no statistically significant difference in using the German language) even though parents’ status did not change. Children granted birthright citizenship were also less likely to be obese, had fewer behavioral problems and greater well‐being, as reported by parents (Avitabile, Clots‐Figueras, and Masella ).…”

Naturalization and labor market performance of immigrants in Germany

“… For other studies using the German citizenship law reform as a natural experiment see, e.g., Felfe and Saurer () and Sajons and Clots‐Figureas () on child education outcomes, Avitabile et al . (, ) on immigrant fertility and integration, and Sajons () on outmigration. For other contributions applying instrumental variable estimation to determine the causal effects of naturalization see, e.g., Bevelander and Pendakur () on voting participation and Bevelander and Pendakur () on employment in Sweden, and Fougère and Safi () on employment in France. …”

Naturalization and citizenship: Who benefits?

“…The very limited evidence available suggests that access to citizenship strengthens cultural identification and social ties with the native population [13]. However, much more research is needed that uses credible empirical strategies in order to assess how access to citizenship affects the social and political integration of immigrants in the host country.…”