IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/uwp/jhriss/v43y2008i2p267-298.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What Holds Back the Second Generation?: The Intergenerational Transmission of Language Human Capital Among Immigrants

Author

Listed:
  • Hoyt Bleakley
  • Aimee Chin

Abstract

In 2000 Census microdata, various outcomes of second-generation immigrants are related to their parents’ age at arrival in the United States, and in particular whether that age fell within the "critical period" of language acquisition. We interpret this as an effect of the parents’ English-language skills and construct an instrumental variable for parental English proficiency. Estimates of the effect of parents’ English-speaking proficiency using two-stage least squares yield significant, positive results for children’s English-speaking proficiency and preschool attendance, and significant, negative results for dropping out of high school and being below age-appropriate grade.

Suggested Citation

  • Hoyt Bleakley & Aimee Chin, 2008. "What Holds Back the Second Generation?: The Intergenerational Transmission of Language Human Capital Among Immigrants," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 43(2), pages 267-298.
    • Handle: RePEc:uwp:jhriss:v:43:y:2008:i:2:p:267-298
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://jhr.uwpress.org/cgi/reprint/43/2/267
    Download Restriction: A subscription is required to access pdf files. Pay per article is available.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alejandro Portes & Lingxin Hao, 1998. "E Pluribus Unum: Bilingualism and Language Loss in the Second Generation," Macroeconomics 9805006, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Sandra E. Black & Paul J. Devereux & Kjell G. Salvanes, 2005. "Why the Apple Doesn't Fall Far: Understanding Intergenerational Transmission of Human Capital," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(1), pages 437-449, March.
    3. Jennifer Glick & Michael White, 2003. "academic trajectories of immigrant youths: Analysis within and across cohorts," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 40(4), pages 759-783, November.
    4. Alejandro Portes & Lingxin Hao, 1998. "E Pluribus Unum: Bilingualism and Language Loss in the Second Generation," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_229, Levy Economics Institute.
    5. Robert Summers & Alan Heston, 1988. "A New Set Of International Comparisons Of Real Product And Price Levels Estimates For 130 Countries, 1950–1985," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 34(1), pages 1-25, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Christian Dustmann, 2008. "Return Migration, Investment in Children, and Intergenerational Mobility: Comparing Sons of Foreign- and Native-Born Fathers," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 43(2), pages 299-324.
    2. Abramitzky, Ran & Boustan, Leah & Catron, Peter & Connor, Dylan & Voigt, Rob, 2021. "Refugees without Assistance: English-Language Attainment and Economic Outcomes in the Early Twentieth Century," SocArXiv 429jp, Center for Open Science.
    3. Aristide R. Zolberg, 2004. "The Democratic Management of Cultural Differences: Building inclusive societies in Western Europe and North America," Human Development Occasional Papers (1992-2007) HDOCPA-2004-17, Human Development Report Office (HDRO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
    4. Han, Wen-Jui & Lee, RaeHyuck & Waldfogel, Jane, 2012. "School readiness among children of immigrants in the US: Evidence from a large national birth cohort study," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 771-782.
    5. Han, Wen-Jui, 2010. "Bilingualism and socioemotional well-being," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 720-731, May.
    6. Guofang Li & Zhuo Sun & Fubiao Zhen & Xuejun Ryan Ji & Lee Gunderson, 2022. "Home Literacy Environment and Chinese-Canadian First Graders’ Bilingual Vocabulary Profiles: A Mixed Methods Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-14, November.
    7. Arnaud Chevalier & Colm Harmon & Vincent O’ Sullivan & Ian Walker, 2013. "The impact of parental income and education on the schooling of their children," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 2(1), pages 1-22, December.
    8. Fields, Gary S. & Meng, Xin & Song, Yang, 2022. "Earnings mobility during labor market reforms in urban China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    9. van de Klundert, T.C.M.J. & Smulders, J.A., 1991. "Reconstructing growth theory : A survey," Other publications TiSEM 19355c51-17eb-4d5d-aa66-b, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    10. John C. Bluedorn & Elizabeth U. Cascio, 2005. "Education and Intergenerational Mobility: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Purerto Rico," Economics Papers 2005-W21, Economics Group, Nuffield College, University of Oxford.
    11. Meng, Xin & Zhao, Guochang, 2021. "The long shadow of a large scale education interruption: The intergenerational effect," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    12. Amin, Vikesh & Lundborg, Petter & Rooth, Dan-Olof, 2015. "The intergenerational transmission of schooling: Are mothers really less important than fathers?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 100-117.
    13. Martin Schlotter & Guido Schwerdt & Ludger Woessmann, 2011. "Econometric methods for causal evaluation of education policies and practices: a non-technical guide," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(2), pages 109-137.
    14. Martti Kaila & Emily Nix & Krista Riukula, 2021. "Disparate Impacts of Job Loss by Parental Income and Implications for Intergenerational Mobility," Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute Working Papers 53, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    15. Vollrath, Thomas L. & Johnston, Paul V., 1990. "TRADE DETERMINANTS AS SOURCES OF ECONOMIC GROWTH An Empirical Inquiry," 1990 Annual meeting, August 5-8, Vancouver, Canada 270739, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    16. Boileau, Martin & Normandin, Michel, 2008. "Closing international real business cycle models with restricted financial markets," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 733-756, September.
    17. Gallardo Montoya, María Lourdes & Ñopo, Hugo R., 2009. "Ethnic and Gender Wage Gaps in Ecuador," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 1646, Inter-American Development Bank.
    18. Crowe, Christopher & Meade, Ellen E., 2008. "Central bank independence and transparency: Evolution and effectiveness," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 763-777, December.
    19. Ferguson, Neil T. N. & Michaelsen, Maren M., 2013. "The Legacy of Conflict – Regional Deprivation and School Performance in Northern Ireland," Ruhr Economic Papers 419, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    20. Carlos Garriga & Mark P. Keightley, 2007. "A general equilibrium theory of college with education subsidies, in-school labor supply, and borrowing constraints," Working Papers 2007-051, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:uwp:jhriss:v:43:y:2008:i:2:p:267-298. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://jhr.uwpress.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.