Full Citation

Title: The Not-So-Hot Melting Pot: The Persistence of Outcomes for Descendants of the Age of Mass Migration

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 2020

ISBN:

ISSN: 1945-7782

DOI: 10.1257/APP.20170382

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Abstract: How persistent are economic gaps across ethnicities? The convergence of ethnic gaps through the third generation of immigrants is difficult to measure because few datasets include grandparental birthplace. I overcome this limitation with a new three-generational dataset that links immigrant grandfathers in 1880 to their grandsons in 1940. I find that the persistence of ethnic gaps in occupational income is 2.5 times stronger than predicted by a standard grandfather-grandson elasticity. While part of the discrepancy is due to measurement error attenuating the grandfather-grandson elasticity, mechanisms related to geography also partially explain the stronger persistence of ethnic occupational differentials.

Url: https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20170382

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Authors: Ward, Zachary

Periodical (Full): American Economic Journal: Applied Economics

Issue: 4

Volume: 12

Pages: 73-102

Data Collections: IPUMS USA - Ancestry Full Count Data

Topics: Family and Marriage, Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Migration and Immigration, Race and Ethnicity

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