arbiter
JournalsAccount

The Fertility Effect of Laws Granting Undocumented Migrants Access to Driver’s Licenses in the United States

Christian Gunadi

Journal of Human Capital2025https://doi.org/10.1086/735103article
AJG 3ABDC A
Weight
0.50

Abstract

As of 2021, 16 US states and the District of Columbia have implemented laws allowing undocumented migrants to acquire driver’s licenses. In this paper, I hypothesize that lower barriers to work due to the ability to obtain driver’s licenses can affect undocumented migrants’ fertility decisions. Using a difference-in-differences strategy, I find that these laws were associated with a decline in childbirth among likely undocumented married women. Further analysis suggests that the negative effect of the laws on likely undocumented women’s fertility comes from the rise in the opportunity costs of childbearing, which, in turn (1) increases the usual hours worked among employed undocumented married women and (2) affects the selection into marriage.

Open via your library →

Cite this paper

https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1086/735103

Or copy a formatted citation

@article{christian2025,
  title        = {{The Fertility Effect of Laws Granting Undocumented Migrants Access to Driver’s Licenses in the United States}},
  author       = {Christian Gunadi},
  journal      = {Journal of Human Capital},
  year         = {2025},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1086/735103},
}

Paste directly into BibTeX, Zotero, or your reference manager.

Flag this paper

The Fertility Effect of Laws Granting Undocumented Migrants Access to Driver’s Licenses in the United States

Flags are reviewed by the Arbiter methodology team within 5 business days.

Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.