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Age at Arrival and Assimilation During the Age of Mass Migration

Author

Listed:
  • Alexander, Rohan
  • Ward, Zachary

Abstract

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Alexander, Rohan & Ward, Zachary, 2018. "Age at Arrival and Assimilation During the Age of Mass Migration," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 78(3), pages 904-937, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:78:y:2018:i:03:p:904-937_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Ran Abramitzky & Philipp Ager & Leah Platt Boustan & Elior Cohen & Casper W. Hansen, 2019. "The Effects of Immigration on the Economy: Lessons from the 1920s Border Closure," NBER Working Papers 26536, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Joseph Price & Kasey Buckles & Jacob Van Leeuwen & Isaac Riley, 2019. "Combining Family History and Machine Learning to Link Historical Records," NBER Working Papers 26227, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Eriksson, Katherine & Ward, Zachary, 2022. "Immigrants and cities during the age of mass migration," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    4. Randall Akee & Maggie R. Jones, 2019. "Foreign vs. U.S. Graduate Degrees: The Impact on Earnings Assimilation and Return Migration for the Foreign Born," Working Papers 19-17, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    5. Santiago Pérez, 2019. "Southern (American) Hospitality: Italians in Argentina and the US during the Age of Mass Migration," NBER Working Papers 26127, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Ran Abramitzky & Philipp Ager & Leah Boustan & Elior Cohen & Casper Hansen, 2021. "The Effect of Immigration on Local Labor Markets: Lessons from the 1920s Border Closure," Research Working Paper RWP 21-09, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
    7. Ran Abramitzky & Leah Platt Boustan & Elisa Jácome & Santiago Pérez, 2019. "Intergenerational Mobility of Immigrants over Two Centuries," Working Papers 2019-6, Princeton University. Economics Department..
    8. Bhattacharya, Nilanjan & Pakrashi, Debayan & Saha, Sarani & Wang, Liang C., 2023. "Identity assimilation: Impact of conflict and partition on the giving behaviors of refugees and natives in West Bengal," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1297, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    9. Becker, Sascha O. & Ferrara, Andreas, 2019. "Consequences of forced migration: A survey of recent findings," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 1-16.
    10. Arellano-Bover, Jaime & San, Shmuel, 2023. "The Role of Firms and Job Mobility in the Assimilation of Immigrants: Former Soviet Union Jews in Israel 1990–2019," IZA Discussion Papers 16389, IZA Network @ LISER.
    11. Cristina Bratu & Matz Dahlberg & Madhinee Valeyatheepillay, 2021. "Age at Arrival and Residential Integration," CESifo Working Paper Series 9181, CESifo.
    12. Collins, William J. & Zimran, Ariell, 2019. "The economic assimilation of Irish Famine migrants to the United States," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    13. repec:grz:wpsses:2021-07 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Chen, Shuo & Xie, Bin, 2020. "Institutional Discrimination and Assimilation: Evidence from the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882," IZA Discussion Papers 13647, IZA Network @ LISER.
    15. Price, Joseph & Buckles, Kasey & Van Leeuwen, Jacob & Riley, Isaac, 2021. "Combining family history and machine learning to link historical records: The Census Tree data set," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    16. Escamilla-Guerrero, David & Kosack, Edward & Ward, Zachary, 2021. "Life after crossing the border: Assimilation during the first Mexican mass migration," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    17. Blanco,Christian & Meneses,Francisco Jalles & Villamizar-Chaparro,Mateo, 2022. "Why Student Aid Matters ? Roadblocks to the Transition into Higher Education forForced Migrants in Chile," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10104, The World Bank.
    18. Andersson, Jonatan, 2025. "Ascending from the bottom rung: The labor market assimilation of rural-urban migrants in Sweden, 1880–1910," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    19. Jelnov, Pavel, 2023. "Towing Norms through the American Dream," IZA Discussion Papers 15847, IZA Network @ LISER.
    20. Catron, Peter, 2018. "The Melting-Pot Problem? The Persistence and Convergence of Premigration Socioeconomic Status During the Age of Mass Migration," SocArXiv gcx3a, Center for Open Science.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • N31 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

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