AEA Papers and Proceedings
ISSN 2574-0768 (Print) | ISSN 2574-0776 (Online)
Discrimination and the Returns to Cultural Assimilation in the Age of Mass Migration
AEA Papers and Proceedings
vol. 110,
May 2020
(pp. 340–46)
Abstract
We document that, in the early twentieth century, children of immigrants who were given more-foreign first names completed fewer years of schooling, earned less, and married less assimilated spouses. However, we find few differences in the adult outcomes of brothers with more/less foreign-sounding first names. This pattern suggests that the negative association between ethnic names and adult outcomes in this era does not stem from discrimination on the basis of first names but instead reflects household differences associated with cultural assimilation. We cannot rule out discrimination on the basis of other ethnic cues.Citation
Abramitzky, Ran, Leah Boustan, Katherine Eriksson, and Stephanie Hao. 2020. "Discrimination and the Returns to Cultural Assimilation in the Age of Mass Migration." AEA Papers and Proceedings, 110: 340–46. DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20201090Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- I26 Returns to Education
- J12 Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure; Domestic Abuse
- J15 Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
- J24 Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
- J71 Labor Discrimination
- N32 Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: U.S.; Canada: 1913-
- Z13 Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification