TY  - JOUR
AU  - Borjas,George J.
TI  - Immigration Policy, National Origin, and Immigrant Skills: A Comparison of Canada and the United States
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 3691
PY  - 1991
Y2  - April 1991
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w3691
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w3691.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
George J. Borjas
Harvard Kennedy School
79 JFK Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Tel: 617/495-1393
Fax: 617/495-9532
E-Mail: gborjas@harvard.edu
M1  - published as George J. Borjas. "Immigration Policy, National Origin, and Immigrant Skills: A Comparison of Canada and the United States," in David Card and Richard B. Freeman, "Small Differences That Matter: Labor Markets and Income Maintenance in Canada and the United States" University of Chicago Press (1993)

AB  - Over 12 million persons migrated to Canada or the United States between 1959 and 1981. Beginning in the mid?1960s, the immigration policies of the two countries began to diverge considerably: the United States stressing family reunification and Canada stressing skills. This paper shows that the point system used by Canada generated, on average, a more skilled immigrant flow than that which entered the United States. This skill gap, however, is mostly attributable to differences in the national origin mix of the immigrant flows admitted by the two countries. In effect, the point system "works" because it alters the national origin mix of immigrant flows, and not because it generates a more skilled immigrant flow from a given source country.
ER  -