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Intergenerational Transmission Of Abilities And Self‐Selection Of Mexican Immigrants

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  • Vincenzo Caponi

Abstract

This paper presents an intergenerational self selection model of migration and education that is capable of explaining the evolution of earnings and education across three generations of immigrants. By structurally estimating the model it is possible to quantify the human capital level of Mexicans in light of the self-sacrifice made by the first generation of Mexican immigrants. The results suggest that there is a significant one time loss of human capital faced by immigrants upon migration that is not transmitted to their children. Also parents with larger amounts of human capital tend to migrate more and tend to choose to remain high school educated. However, given the better educational opportunities offered in the US, they migrate with the expectation of their children becoming college educated. Therefore, measures that rely on the earnings performance and educational attainment of immigrants underestimate the amount of human capital they bring into the host country.
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  • Vincenzo Caponi, 2011. "Intergenerational Transmission Of Abilities And Self‐Selection Of Mexican Immigrants," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 52(2), pages 523-547, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:ier:iecrev:v:52:y:2011:i:2:p:523-547
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    1. Why third generation immigrants earn less
      by Economic Logician in Economic Logic on 2009-11-27 21:59:00

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    11. Koutchadé, Philippe & Carpentier, Alain & Féménia, Fabienne, 2015. "Empirical modelling of production decisions of heterogeneous farmers with mixed models," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 205098, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

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