infonet-economy

Does birthright citizenship boost immigrant children's participation
and success in the host country's educational system? We address this
question using a reform of the German naturalization law in 1999 that
entitled children born after January 1, 2000 to birthright citizenship.
We use a difference-in-difference design that compares children born
shortly before and shortly after the cutoff in years of policy change
and years in which no policy change took place. Our analysis draws
on administrative data from school entrance examinations and on the
German Micro Census. Results indicate an increased participation of
immigrant children in the early education system. Despite medium-run
benefits in terms of socio-behavioral development, there is no signiificant evidence that immigrant children are better prepared for primary
school and there is just some evidence suggesting positive effects on
enrolment in the academic track of secondary school.