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El Sueño Americano? The Generational Progress of Mexican Americans Prior to World War II

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  • Kosack, Edward
  • Ward, Zachary

Abstract

We present new estimates of the outcomes of first-generation Mexicans and their descendants between 1880 and 1940. We find zero convergence of the economic gap between Mexicans and non-Mexican whites across three generations. The great-grandchildren of immigrants also had fewer years of education. Slow convergence is not simply due to an inheritance of poverty; rather, Mexican Americans had worse outcomes conditional on the father’s economic status. However, the gap between third-generation Mexican Americans and non-Mexican whites is about half the size today as it was in 1940, suggesting that barriers to Mexican American progress have significantly decreased over time.

Suggested Citation

  • Kosack, Edward & Ward, Zachary, 2020. "El Sueño Americano? The Generational Progress of Mexican Americans Prior to World War II," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 80(4), pages 961-995, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:80:y:2020:i:4:p:961-995_2
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Francisca M. Antman & Brian Duncan & Stephen J. Trejo, 2023. "Hispanic Americans in the Labor Market: Patterns over Time and across Generations," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 37(1), pages 169-198, Winter.
    2. 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).
    3. Karger, Ezra & Wray, Anthony, 2024. "The Black-White Lifetime Earnings Gap," IZA Discussion Papers 17221, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Brian Duncan & Stephen J. Trejo, 2023. "Which Mexicans Are White? Enumerator-Assigned Race in the 1930 Census and the Socioeconomic Integration of Mexican Americans," NBER Working Papers 31623, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. David Escamilla-Guerrero, 2024. "All aboard! Railroad access and Mexico-US mass migration," Oxford Economic and Social History Working Papers _212, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    6. Anbinder, Tyler & Connor, Dylan & O Grada, Cormac & Wegge, Simone, 2021. "The Problem of False Positives in Automated Census Linking: Evidence from Nineteenth-Century New York's Irish Immigrants," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 568, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).

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