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Pia Orrenius

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, USA, and IZA, Germany

This is an incredibly ambitious project that builds an important bridge from academia to the policy world. I am proud to be a part of it

IZA World of Labor role

Author

Current position

Vice President, Research Department, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, USA

Research interest

Labor and demographic economics, regional economics, immigration policy

Website

http://bit.ly/Orrenius_IZApage

Positions/functions as a policy advisor

Director of regional economics and advisor to the bank president, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas (since 2013); Member, BLS Technical Advisory Committee (2012–2016); Member, Committee on the Economic and Fiscal Impacts of Immigration, National Research Council (2014–2015); Member, Committee on Survey Options for Estimating Unauthorized Crossings at the US–Mexico Border, National Research Council (2011–2012).

Past positions

Adjunct Professor, Hankamer School of Business, Baylor University, USA (since 2008); Economist, Council of Economic Advisers, Executive Office of the President, USA (2004–2005)

Qualifications

PhD Economics, UCLA, 1999

Selected publications

  • “Does immigration affect whether U.S. natives major in STEM.” Journal of Labor Economics (Forthcoming).

  • “The impact of e-verify mandates on labor market outcomes.” Southern Economic Journal (Forthcoming) (with M. Zavodny).

  • “On the determinants of optimal border enforcement.” Economic Theory 34 (2008): 261–296 (with M. Guzman and J. Haslag).

  • “Does immigration affect wages? A look at occupation-level evidence.” Labour Economics 14 (2007): 757–773 (with M. Zavodny).

  • “Self-selection among undocumented immigrants from Mexico.” Journal of Development Economics 78 (2005): 215–240 (with M. Zavodny).

article(s)

  • Enforcement and illegal migration Updated

    Enforcement deters immigration but with unintended consequences

    Pia Orrenius, November 2019
    Border enforcement of immigration laws raises the costs of illegal immigration, while interior enforcement also lowers its benefits. Used together, border and interior enforcement therefore reduce the net benefits of illegal immigration and should lower the probability that an individual will decide to illegally migrate. While empirical studies find that border and interior enforcement serve as deterrents to illegal immigration, immigration enforcement is costly and carries unintended consequences, such as a decrease in circular migration, an increase in smuggling, and higher prevalence of off-the-books employment and use of fraudulent and falsified documents.
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