The Shadow Value of Legal Status--A Hedonic Analysis of the Earnings of U.S. Farm Workers

The purpose of this study is to estimate the shadow price of the legal status of farm workers. A hedonic function in terms of farm work experience, gender, education level, language skill, and legal status is estimated with control variables for employer type, farm work type, as well as other geographical and time variables. The data is drawn from the National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS). The preliminary results show that while legal status did contribute significantly to the wage differences it is not the major factor. After taking account of the composition shift in demographic characteristics, the quality adjusted labor prices still doubled in the past two decades.