American Economic Journal:
Applied Economics
ISSN 1945-7782 (Print) | ISSN 1945-7790 (Online)
The Not-So-Hot Melting Pot: The Persistence of Outcomes for Descendants of the Age of Mass Migration
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
vol. 12,
no. 4, October 2020
(pp. 73–102)
(Complimentary)
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.Citation
Ward, Zachary. 2020. "The Not-So-Hot Melting Pot: The Persistence of Outcomes for Descendants of the Age of Mass Migration." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 12 (4): 73–102. DOI: 10.1257/app.20170382Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- J15 Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
- J22 Time Allocation and Labor Supply
- J31 Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
- J51 Trade Unions: Objectives, Structure, and Effects
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