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Interethnic Marriages and Economic Assimilation of Immigrants

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Author Info
Kantarevic, Jasmin () (Ontario Medical Association, University of Toronto and IZA Bonn)

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Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between interethnic marriages and economic assimilation among immigrants in the United States. Two competing hypotheses are evaluated: the productivity hypothesis, according to which immigrants married to native-born spouses assimilate faster than comparable immigrants married to foreign-born spouses because spouses play an integral role in the human capital accumulation of their partners; and the selection hypothesis, according to which the relationship between intermarriages and assimilation is spurious because intermarried immigrants are a selected subsample from the population of all married immigrants. These two hypotheses are analyzed within a model in which earnings of immigrants and their interethnic marital status are jointly determined. The empirical evidence favors the selection hypothesis. Non-intermarried immigrants tend to be negatively selected, and the intermarriage premium obtained by the least squares completely vanishes once we account for the selection.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 1142.

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Length: 36 pages
Date of creation: May 2004
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp1142

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Related research
Keywords: interethnic marriage; economic assimilation; self-selection;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Baker, Michael & Benjamin, Dwayne, 1997. "The Role of the Family in Immigrants' Labor-Market Activity: An Evaluation of Alternative Explanations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(4), pages 705-27, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Welch, Finis, 1974. "Benefits of Women's Education within Marriage: Comment," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(2), pages S72-S75, Part II, . [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Borjas, George J, 1985. "Assimilation, Changes in Cohort Quality, and the Earnings of Immigrants," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(4), pages 463-89, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Weiss, Yoram, 1993. "The formation and dissolution of families: Why marry? Who marries whom? And what happens upon divorce," Handbook of Population and Family Economics, in: M. R. Rosenzweig & Stark, O. (ed.), Handbook of Population and Family Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 3, pages 81-123 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. David Neumark & Sanders D. Korenman, 1988. "Does marriage really make men more productive?," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 29, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
  6. Benham, Lee, 1974. "Benefits of Women's Education within Marriage," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(2), pages S57-S71, Part II, . [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Becker, Gary S, 1973. "A Theory of Marriage: Part I," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(4), pages 813-46, July-Aug.. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Josh Angrist, 2000. "Consequences of Imbalanced Sex Ratios: Evidence from America's Second Generation," NBER Working Papers 8042, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Kenny, Lawrence W, 1983. "The Accumulation of Human Capital during Marriage by Males," Economic Inquiry, Oxford University Press, vol. 21(2), pages 223-31, April.
  10. George J. Borjas, 1994. "The Economics of Immigration," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 32(4), pages 1667-1717, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Borjas, George J., 1999. "The economic analysis of immigration," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 28, pages 1697-1760 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Heckman, James J. & Lalonde, Robert J. & Smith, Jeffrey A., 1999. "The economics and econometrics of active labor market programs," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 31, pages 1865-2097 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Xin Meng & Robert G. Gregory, 2005. "Intermarriage and the Economic Assimilation of Immigrants," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 23(1), pages 135-176, January. [Downloadable!]
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Ours, J.C. van & Veenman, J.M.C., 2008. "How Interethnic Marriages Affect the Educational Attainment of Children: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," Discussion Paper 2008-7, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
  2. Timothy J. Hatton & Andrew Leigh, 2007. "Immigrants Assimilate as Communities, Not Just as Individuals," IZA Discussion Papers 2538, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Delia Furtado, 2007. "Cross-Nativity Marriages, Gender, and Human Capital Levels of Children," Working papers 2007-33, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  4. Xin Meng & Dominique Meurs, 2006. "Intermarriage, Language, and Economic Assimilation Process: A Case Study of France," IZA Discussion Papers 2461, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Delia Furtado, 2006. "Human Capital and Interethnic Marriage Decisions," IZA Discussion Papers 1989, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. van Ours, Jan C. & Veenman, Justus, 2008. "How Interethnic Marriages Affect the Educational Attainment of Children: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," IZA Discussion Papers 3308, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  7. Belot, Michèle & Fidrmuc, Jan, 2009. "Anthropometry of Love: Height and Gender Asymmetries in Interethnic Marriages," CEPR Discussion Papers 7146, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Furtado, Delia & Theodoropoulos, Nikolaos, 2008. "Interethnic Marriage: A Choice between Ethnic and Educational Similarities," IZA Discussion Papers 3448, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  9. Chiswick, Barry R. & Houseworth, Christina A., 2008. "Ethnic Intermarriage among Immigrants: Human Capital and Assortative Mating," IZA Discussion Papers 3740, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  10. Helena Skyt Nielsen & Nina Smith & Aycan Celikaksoy, 2007. "The Effect of Marriage on Education of Immigrants: Evidence from a Policy Reform Restricting Spouse Import," Economics Working Papers 2007-07, School of Economics and Management, University of Aarhus. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  11. Delia Furtado & Nikolaos Theodoropoulos, 2008. "I’ll Marry You If You Get Me a Job: Cross-Nativity Marriages and Immigrant Employment Rates," CReAM Discussion Paper Series 0801, Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM), Department of Economics, University College London. [Downloadable!]
  12. Delia Furtado & Nikolaos Theodoropoulos, 2009. "Intermarriage and Immigrant Employment:The Role of Networks," University of Cyprus Working Papers in Economics 3-2009, University of Cyprus Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  13. Deborah A. Cobb-Clark & Vincent A. Hildebrand, 2008. "The Asset Portfolios of Native-born and Foreign-born Households," CEPR Discussion Papers 567, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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