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  3. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
  4. October 2020
  5. The Not-So-Hot Melting Pot: The Persistence of Outcomes for Descendants of the Age of Mass Migration

The Not-So-Hot Melting Pot: The Persistence of Outcomes for Descendants of the Age of Mass Migration

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Abstract

How persistent are economic gaps across ethnicities? The convergence of ethnic gaps through the third generation of immigrants is difficult to measure because few datasets include grandparental birthplace. I overcome this limitation with a new three-generational dataset that links immigrant grandfathers in 1880 to their grandsons in 1940. I find that the persistence of ethnic gaps in occupational income is 2.5 times stronger than predicted by a standard grandfather-grandson elasticity. While part of the discrepancy is due to measurement error attenuating the grandfather-grandson elasticity, mechanisms related to geography also partially explain the stronger persistence of ethnic occupational differentials.

Citation

Ward, Zachary. 2020. "The Not-So-Hot Melting Pot: The Persistence of Outcomes for Descendants of the Age of Mass Migration." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 12 (4): 73-102. DOI: 10.1257/app.20170382

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • J15 Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
  • J22 Time Allocation and Labor Supply
  • J31 Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
  • J51 Trade Unions: Objectives, Structure, and Effects
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