Age at Arrival and Assimilation During the Age of Mass Migration. (7th September 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Alexander, Rohan; Ward, Zachary
• Is Part Of: Journal of economic history. Volume 78:Number 3(2018)
• Page Start: 904
• Page End: 937
• Publication Date: 2018-09-07
• Subjects: Economic history -- Periodicals; 330.9005
• DOI: 10.1017/S0022050718000335
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0022-0507

Abstract

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.