A Nation of Immigrants: Assimilation and Economic Outcomes in the Age of Mass Migration

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Abramitzky, Ran; Boustan, Leah Platt; Eriksson, Katherine
• 署名单位: Stanford University; National Bureau of Economic Research; University of California System; University of California Los Angeles; California State University System; California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-3808
• DOI: 10.1086/675805
• 发表日期: 2014
• 页码: 467-506
• 关键词: child labor laws; UNITED-STATES; self-selection; wage structure; earnings; GROWTH; POOR

摘要

During the Age of Mass Migration (1850-1913), the United States maintained an open border, absorbing 30 million European immigrants. Prior cross-sectional work finds that immigrants initially held lower-paid occupations than natives but converged over time. In newly assembled panel data, we show that, in fact, the average immigrant did not face a substantial occupation-based earnings penalty upon first arrival and experienced occupational advancement at the same rate as natives. Cross-sectional patterns are driven by biases from declining arrival cohort skill level and departures of negatively selected return migrants. We show that assimilation patterns vary substantially across sending countries and persist in the second generation.