TY - JOUR
T1 - Age at Arrival and Assimilation during the Age of Mass Migration
AU - Alexander, Rohan
AU - Ward, Zachary
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 The Economic History Association. All rights reserved.
PY - 2018/9/1
Y1 - 2018/9/1
N2 - We estimate the effect of age at arrival for immigrant outcomes with a new dataset of arrivals linked to the 1940 U.S. Census. Using within-family variation, we find that arriving at an older age, or having more childhood exposure to the European environment, led to a more negative wage gap relative to the native born. Infant arrivals had a positive wage gap relative to natives, in contrast to a negative gap for teenage arrivals. Therefore, a key determinant of immigrant outcomes during the Age of Mass Migration was the country of residence during critical periods of childhood development.
AB - We estimate the effect of age at arrival for immigrant outcomes with a new dataset of arrivals linked to the 1940 U.S. Census. Using within-family variation, we find that arriving at an older age, or having more childhood exposure to the European environment, led to a more negative wage gap relative to the native born. Infant arrivals had a positive wage gap relative to natives, in contrast to a negative gap for teenage arrivals. Therefore, a key determinant of immigrant outcomes during the Age of Mass Migration was the country of residence during critical periods of childhood development.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85052942857&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/S0022050718000335
DO - 10.1017/S0022050718000335
M3 - Article
SN - 0022-0507
VL - 78
SP - 904
EP - 937
JO - Journal of Economic History
JF - Journal of Economic History
IS - 3
ER -