Poster #124 - Cash Assistance and Educational Attainment: Evidence from Adolescent Refugees in the United States

• In Event: Friday Poster Reception

Abstract

The U.S. refugee resettlement program, which has assisted more than three million refugees since 1980, prioritizes rapid economic self-sufficiency. For those arriving as adolescents, educational attainment is critical to achieving this goal, but newly resettled families often face binding financial constraints that may force trade-offs between schooling and work. This paper examines the impact of initial cash assistance on educational outcomes among adolescent refugees. Exploiting the quasi-random placement of refugees across states with varying levels of cash assistance, this study provides causal estimates of the effect of financial support on high school completion and college enrollment. Using a sample of “likely refugees” aged 13 to 18 at arrival from the American Community Survey (ACS), I estimate the effect of the maximum monthly cash benefit available in the state and year of resettlement on high school completion. Benefit data span 1981 to 2016, combining data from the Urban Institute's Welfare Rules Database for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program with partially digitized congressional "Green Books" for its predecessor, Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). The findings indicate that a $100 increase in the maximum monthly cash benefit is associated with an approximately one percentage point increase in high school completion, from a baseline of approximately 82 percent. The same variation in cash benefits has no significant effect on the educational attainment of non-refugee immigrants, who were largely ineligible for these programs, supporting the interpretation that the results are driven by cash assistance rather than other correlated state policies. The effects are concentrated among refugees who arrive as older adolescents, between the ages of 16 and 18, consistent with older adolescents facing sharper trade-offs between work and schooling upon arrival. The effect is also particularly pronounced for female refugees, who exhibit higher college attendance and labor force participation as well. These findings suggest that income support during the initial resettlement period can improve long-run integration outcomes for refugee youth by facilitating investments in education.

Author

• Gabrielle Toborg, University of Pittsburgh
  Presenting Author