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Why Does the Health of Immigrants Deteriorate? Evidence from Birth Records

Author

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  • Giuntella, Osea

    (University of Pittsburgh)

Abstract

Despite their lower socioeconomic status, Hispanic immigrants in the United States initially have better health outcomes than natives. Paradoxically while second-generation immigrants assimilate socio-economically, their health deteriorates. I show that a model of selection and intergenerational transmission of health reverses the apparent paradox, predicting a worse deterioration than the one observed in the data. While higher incidence of risk factors and acculturation are associated with poorer health, the “reverse paradox” is explained by the relative persistence in healthy behaviors among Hispanics. These effects hold true even in a subset of siblings, and holding constant grandmother-fixed effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Giuntella, Osea, 2013. "Why Does the Health of Immigrants Deteriorate? Evidence from Birth Records," IZA Discussion Papers 7588, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7588
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Cristina Bellés-Obrero & Nicolau Martin Bassols & Judit Vall Castello, 2021. "Safety at work and immigration," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 34(1), pages 167-221, January.
    2. Aparicio Fenoll, Ainoa, 2022. "Naturalization and Immigrants' Health," IZA Discussion Papers 15659, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Yang Song & Wenkai Sun, 2016. "Health Consequences of Rural‐to‐Urban Migration: Evidence from Panel Data in China," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(10), pages 1252-1267, October.
    4. Giuntella, Osea & Nicodemo, Catia & Vargas-Silva, Carlos, 2018. "The effects of immigration on NHS waiting times," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 123-143.
    5. Thomas Schober & Katrin Zocher, 2018. "Health care utilization of refugees," CDL Aging, Health, Labor working papers 2018-08, The Christian Doppler (CD) Laboratory Aging, Health, and the Labor Market, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    6. Giuntella, Osea & Mazzonna, Fabrizio, 2014. "Do Immigrants Bring Good Health?," IZA Discussion Papers 8073, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Francisca M. Antman & Brian Duncan & Stephen J. Trejo, 2020. "Ethnic attrition, assimilation, and the measured health outcomes of Mexican Americans," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(4), pages 1499-1522, October.
    8. Giuntella, Osea & Mazzonna, Fabrizio, 2015. "Do immigrants improve the health of natives?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 140-153.
    9. Osea Giuntella, 2016. "Assimilation and Health: Evidence From Linked Birth Records of Second- and Third-Generation Hispanics," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(6), pages 1979-2004, December.
    10. Ainoa Aparicio Fenoll, 2024. "Naturalization and immigrants' health," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(2), pages 310-332, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    birth outcomes; birthweight; intermarriage; risky behaviors; siblings; Latino paradox;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination

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