Measuring Change in Immigration policy

Challen demonstrates with new data that U.S. policy makers have not increased skill bias in migrant admissions policy, despite a turbulent economy and public concern regarding the fiscal cost of immigration. She presents a new theory of the determinants of change in U.S. migrant admissions policy that highlights the importance of supermajoritarian decision making procedures and special interest groups in influencing policy making in the U.S. Senate. The theory better accounts for both the expansive nature and the infrequency of policy change since 1965. In the final chapter, a methodological principle for data collection is developed that allows researchers to minimize data loss, increase transparency, and maximize the flexibility of data use for comparative policy measures.