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Title: What Works for Immigrant Integration? Lessons from the Americanization Movement
Citation Type: Miscellaneous
Publication Year: 2020
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Abstract: Which types of policies promote the social and political incorporation of immigrants? I address this question in the context of the Americanization movement, the concerted effort of state and non-state actors to culturally assimilate the large numbers of immigrants arriving to the US in the early 20th century. I offer a framework for conceptualizing the effects of integration policy packages, based on the relative role of incentives they offer and prescriptions they set for immigrant behavior. I illustrate the frameworkâs insights through the causal evaluation of different types of Americanization initiatives, using linked census records on the universe of the foreign-born between 1910 and 1930, and samples of the second generation between 1930 and 1960. Initiatives that increase the benefits of integration are successful in promoting citizenship acquisition and increasing language proficiency and rates of intermarriage with the native-born. Prescription-based policies instead are either ineffective or counterproductive in promoting integration.
Url: https://vfouka.people.stanford.edu/sites/g/files/sbiybj4871/f/americanization.pdf
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Authors: Fouka, Vasiliki
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Data Collections: IPUMS USA
Topics: Migration and Immigration
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