Immigration and welfare magnets

This article investigates if the location choices made by immigrants when t hey arrive in the United States are influenced by the interstate dispersion in welfare benefits. Income-maximizing behavior implies that foreign-born welfare recipients, unlike their native-born counterparts, may be clustered in the states that offer the highest benefits. The empirical analysis indi cates that immigrant welfare recipients are indeed more heavily clustered i n high-benefit states than the immigrants who do not receive welfare, or th an natives. As a result, the welfare participation rate of immigrants is mu ch more sensitive to changes in welfare benefits than that of natives.