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Title: Upward Mobility and Discrimination: The Case of Asian Americans

Citation Type: Working Paper

Publication Year: 2016

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Abstract: Asian Americans are the only non-white US racial group to experience long-term, institutional discrimination yet today exhibit high income. I re-examine this puzzle in California, where most Asians settled historically. Asians achieved extraordinary upward mobility relative to blacks and whites for every cohort born in California since 1920. This mobility stemmed primarily from gains in earnings conditional on education, rather than unusual educational attainment. Historical test score and prejudice data suggest low initial earnings for Asians, unlike blacks, reflected prejudice rather than skills. Post-war declines in discrimination interacting with high initial skills can account for Asians' extraordinary upward mobility.

Url: http://www.nber.org/papers/w22748.pdf

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Authors: Hilger, Nathaniel

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Publication Number: 22748

Institution: NBER

Pages: 1-85

Publisher Location: Cambridge, MA

Data Collections: IPUMS USA - Ancestry Full Count Data

Topics: Education, Migration and Immigration, Poverty and Welfare, Race and Ethnicity

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