The awarding of citizenship to immigrants' children born in the host country is widespread but increasingly contested; however, empirical evidence on whether birthright citizenship shapes long-term integration outcomes in adulthood remains scarce. We exploit a natural experiment in Germany, where a birthright citizenship reform on January 1, 2000, allows comparing immigrants' children born just before and after the cutoff. Using a targeted survey of 1,060 second-generation immigrants born between November 1999 and February 2000, we estimate the impact of birthright citizenship on integration 24 years later.  Our findings show that eligibility for birthright citizenship significantly enhances overall integration among adult children of immigrants (intention-to-treat effect: 0.34SD, 95% CIs: 0.14SD--0.54SD), with effects being concentrated on social integration and political incorporation. These gains effectively close the integration gap between second-generation immigrants and native citizens, primarily by improving the outcomes of those with parents from Muslim-majority countries.

Competitive, project-based allocation mechanisms are a central feature of European Union public spending, governing the distribution of cohesion funds to regions, firms, and public institutions. We study how this allocation model performs when applied to schools by evaluating the impact of competitive school grants on student achievement. Between 2014 and 2020, roughly €3 billion of EU Structural Funds were allocated to Italian schools through calls that ranked applications and funded projects above a cutoff. Combining administrative data on standardized test scores with detailed information on funded projects, we exploit ranking thresholds using regression discontinuity and staggered difference-in-differences designs. Schools that marginally win grants for educational technology increase test scores, with larger effects for disadvantaged students. By contrast, grants for extra-curricular activities show no average school-level effects. At the student level, only participation in mathematics- or language-focused courses improves achievement, while non-focused activities yield no gains. Overall, cohesion resources raise performance when allocation mechanisms prioritize academically targeted investments.