Full Citation

Title: El Sueño Americano? The Generational Progress of Mexican Americans Prior to World War II

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 2020

ISBN:

ISSN: 0022-0507

DOI: 10.1017/S0022050720000480

NSFID:

PMCID:

PMID:

Abstract: We present new estimates of the outcomes of first-generation Mexicans and their descendants between 1880 and 1940. We find zero convergence of the economic gap between Mexicans and non-Mexican whites across three generations. The great-grandchildren of immigrants also had fewer years of education. Slow convergence is not simply due to an inheritance of poverty; rather, Mexican Americans had worse outcomes conditional on the father’s economic status. However, the gap between third-generation Mexican Americans and non-Mexican whites is about half the size today as it was in 1940, suggesting that barriers to Mexican American progress have significantly decreased over time.

Url: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-economic-history/article/abs/el-sueno-americano-the-generational-progress-of-mexican-americans-prior-to-world-war-ii/147F2AA35C2B76BD17CC16BBA3289490

User Submitted?: No

Authors: Kosack, Edward; Ward, Zachary

Periodical (Full): The Journal of Economic History

Issue: 4

Volume: 80

Pages: 961-995

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Migration and Immigration, Race and Ethnicity

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