← Search

Quotas and Quality: The Effect of H-1B Visa Restrictions on the Pool of Prospective Undergraduate Students from Abroad

Takao Kato1,2,3; Chad Sparber3,4

1 Aarhus University · 2 Aarhus Business College · 3 Colgate University · 4 University College London

The Review of Economics and Statistics 2013

In October 2003, the United States drastically reduced the number of H-1B visas available for foreign-born workers. Such restrictions could make U.S. colleges less attractive to foreign students considering an American education as a pathway to U.S. employment. Citizens from five countries are de facto exempt from the visa restrictions, however. Our difference-in-difference estimates show that restrictive immigration policy reduced SAT scores of international applicants by about 1.5% and decreased the number of SAT score reports sent by international students at the top quintile of the SAT score distribution. Restrictive immigration policy disproportionately discourages high-ability international students from pursuing education in the United States.

DOI
10.1162/rest_a_00245
Volume
95 (1)
Pages
109-126
Language
en
Export
BibTeX
Sources
openalex crossref