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The Educational Attainment of Immigrants: Trends and Implications

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Author Info
Julian R. Betts
Magnus Lofstrom

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Abstract

This paper uses the 1970, 1980, and 1990 U.S. Censuses to study trends in educational attainment of immigrants relative to natives. Immigrants have become relatively less highly educated, but have become more highly educated in an absolute sense. The effects of changes in relative educational attainment between immigrants and natives on earnings are studied. Educational differences are found to explain more than half the observed wage gap between the two groups. The paper also allows for non-linearities in returns to education. Sheepskin effects influence earnings in different ways for natives and immigrants. Differences in returns to pre- and post-migration education also appear. The paper also finds evidence that immigrants crowd natives out of education, although the effects are stronger in secondary than in postsecondary education.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 6757.

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Date of creation: Oct 1998
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:6757

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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. Betts, Julian R, 1995. "Does School Quality Matter? Evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 77(2), pages 231-50, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Chiswick, Barry R, 1978. "The Effect of Americanization on the Earnings of Foreign-born Men," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 86(5), pages 897-921, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Robert J. Barro & Jong-Wha Lee, 1993. "International Comparisons of Educational Attainment," NBER Working Papers 4349, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. Loury, Linda Datcher & Garman, David, 1995. "College Selectivity and Earnings," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 13(2), pages 289-308, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. James, Estelle, et al, 1989. "College Quality and Future Earnings: Where Should You Send Your Child to College?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(2), pages 247-52, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Rachel M. Friedberg, 1996. "You Can't Take It With You? Immigrant Assimilation and the Portability of Human Capital," NBER Working Papers 5837, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Heckman, James & Layne-Farrar, Anne & Todd, Petra, 1996. "Human Capital Pricing Equations with an Application to Estimating the Effect of Schooling Quality on Earnings," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 78(4), pages 562-610, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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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. Gordon H. Hanson, 2008. "The Economic Consequences of the International Migration of Labor," NBER Working Papers 14490, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Mary MacKinnon & Daniel Parent, 2005. "Resisting the Melting Pot: the Long Term Impact of Maintaining Identity for Franco-Americans in New England," Cahiers de recherche 0517, CIRPEE. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Pivnenko, Sergiy & DeVoretz, Don, 2003. "The Recent Economic Performance of Ukrainian Immigrants in Canada and the U.S," IZA Discussion Papers 913, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  4. Barth, Erling & Bratsberg, Bernt & Raaum, Oddbjørn, 2003. "Local Unemployment and the Relative Wages of Immigrants: Evidence from the Current Population Surveys," Memorandum 20/2002, Oslo University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Hiroshi Ono & Madeline Zavodny, 2007. "Immigrants, English Ability and the Digital Divide," IZA Discussion Papers 3124, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  6. Luojia Hu, 1999. "Use of Means-Tested Transfer Programs by Immigrants, Their Children, and Their Children's Children," JCPR Working Papers 71, Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research.
  7. Magnus Lofstrom & Chunbei Wang, 2006. "Mexican-Hispanic Self-Employment Entry: The Role of Business Start-Up Constraints," IZA Discussion Papers 2422, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  8. Hansen, Jörgen & Löfström, Magnus, 2000. "Immigrant Assimilation And Welfare Participation: Do Immigrants Assimilate Into Or Out Of Welfare?," CEPR Discussion Papers 2430, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  9. Heather Antecol & Peter Kuhn & Stephen J. Trejo, 2006. "Assimilation via Prices or Quantities? Sources of Immigrant Earnings Growth in Australia, Canada and the United States," CReAM Discussion Paper Series 0603, Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM), Department of Economics, University College London. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  10. Lofstrom, Magnus, 1999. "Labor Market Assimilation and the Self-Employment Decision of Immigrant Entrepreneurs," IZA Discussion Papers 54, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  11. Neuman, Shoshana & Ziderman, Adrian, 2001. "Can Vocational Education Improve the Wages of Minorities and Disadvantaged Groups? The Case of Israel," IZA Discussion Papers 348, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  12. Carmen Aina & Giorgia Casalone & Paolo Ghinetti, 2008. "Internal Geographical Mobility And Educational Outcomes. An Analysis For An Italian Province," Working Papers 120, SEMEQ Department - Faculty of Economics - University of Eastern Piedmont. [Downloadable!]
  13. Antecol, Heather & Kuhn, Peter & Trejo, Stephen J., 2003. "Assimilation via Prices or Quantities? Labor Market Institutions and Immigrant Earnings Growth in Australia, Canada, and the United States," IZA Discussion Papers 802, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  14. Magnus Lofstrom & Chunbei Wang, 2006. "Hispanic Self-Employment: A Dynamic Analysis of Business Ownership," IZA Discussion Papers 2101, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  15. Barry R. Chiswick & Sarinda Taengnoi, 2007. "Occupational Choice of High Skilled Immigrants in the United States," IZA Discussion Papers 2969, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  16. Buly A. Cardak & James Ted McDonald, 2004. "Neighbourhood effects, preference heterogeneity and immigrant educational attainment," Applied Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 36(6), pages 559-572, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  17. Steven Haider & Robert F. Schoeni & Yuhua Bao & Caroline Danielson, 2001. "Immigrants, Welfare Reform, and the Economy in the 1990s," Working Papers 01-13, RAND Corporation Publications Department. [Downloadable!]
  18. Clark, Melissa A. & Jaeger, David A., 2002. "Natives, the Foreign-Born and High School Equivalents: New Evidence on the Returns to the GED," IZA Discussion Papers 477, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  19. Chiswick, Barry R. & DebBurman, Noyna, 2003. "Educational Attainment: Analysis by Immigrant Generation," IZA Discussion Papers 731, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  20. Magnus Lofstrom, 2007. "Why Are Hispanic and African-American Dropout Rates So High?," IZA Discussion Papers 3265, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  21. Daniel Chiquiar & Gordon H. Hanson, 2002. "International Migration, Self-Selection, and the Distribution of Wages: Evidence from Mexico and the United States," NBER Working Papers 9242, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  22. Lofstrom, Magnus, 2000. "Self-Employment and Earnings among High-Skilled Immigrants in the United States," IZA Discussion Papers 175, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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