CPRC

Past Research: Professor Kaushal’s research in the past five years has centered on two broad themes—first, the interaction between state welfare programs and the well-being of low-income families, and second, how various policies and events have affected the well-being of immigrants. In specific, she has investigated effects of the 1996 welfare reform on several aspects of the lives of low-income families, including labor market outcomes, health insurance, health care use and health outcomes, with special emphasis on the circumstances of immigrants. Kaushal has also examined the effect of amnesty (legalization) on the economic well-being of undocumented immigrants and the effect of the September 11^th terrorist attacks on the labor market outcomes of Arabs and Muslims living in the U.S. This research has been published in several top peer-reviewed journals. She has received funding support, as Principal Investigator, from the Foundation for Child Development, the Russell Sage Foundation, the Joint Center for Poverty Research (Food Assistance Research grant), and the Institute for Research on Poverty (U.S.DA Small Grants Program). She recently wrote a background paper (with Michael Fix) for the Independent Taskforce on Immigration and America’s Future, co-chaired by former Senator Spencer Abraham and former Congressman Lee Hamilton. Two of her papers have been cited in Testimonies by experts before the House Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives.

Present Research: Kaushal’s current research focuses on issues that are critical to the on-going immigration debate in the country. She recently completed a paper examining how in-state college tuition for undocumented persons affects their education and earnings; this paper has been cited in recent legislative debates on this controversial policy across the country. Kaushal is also working on four related papers that are relevant to U.S. immigration policy: the effect of immigration of foreign-trained nurses on the wages of U.S.-trained nurses (with Robert Kaestner); the complexities of economic relationships between high-skilled immigrants and natives (with Cordelia Reimers); trajectories of health care use and health outcomes of Mexican immigrants (with Robert Kaestner); and levels of educational attainment in the U.S. and abroad vis-à-vis immigrant assimilation and human capital portability.

Future Research: In the next few years, Kaushal (with Robert Kaestner) will pursue research on health care and health trajectories of Mexican immigrants. She will use multiple datasets the National Health Interview Surveys, the National Health and Nutritional Examination Surveys, and the Health Retirement Study) to provide a comprehensive description and analysis of the determinants of the time-since-immigration trajectories of health outcomes and health inputs (e.g., medical care and health behaviors) and how these trajectories interact. This information will inform public health policy so as to improve the health of a large and growing segment of the U.S. population. She will also continue her research on foreign-trained nurses in the U.S. (also with Robert Kaestner) and on the links between integration policies for undocumented persons (such as in-state tuition subsidies) and the mental and physical well-being of immigrants.

Professor Kaushal's Departmental Biography Page