Lower birth weight babies have worse outcomes, both short-run in terms of one-year mortality rates and longer run in terms of educational attainment and earnings. However, recent research has called into question whether birth weight itself is important or whether it simply reflects other...

This paper analyzes the determinants of homeownership in immigrant households over the 1980-2000 period. The study finds that immigrants have lower homeownership rates than natives and that the homeownership gap widened significantly during that period. The differential location decisions of...

The socioeconomic performance of today's workers depends not only on parental skills, but also on the average skills of the ethnic group in the parent's generation (or ethnic capital). This paper investigates the link between the ethnic externality and ethnic neighborhoods. The evidence...

The rapid growth in the number of foreign students enrolled in American universities has transformed the higher education system, particularly at the graduate level. Many of these newly minted doctorates remain in the United States after receiving their doctoral degrees, so that the foreign...

This paper uses the 1970, 1980, and 1990 Public Use Samples of the U.S. Census to trace the evolution of immigrant participation in welfare programs during the past two decades. The data indicate that immigrant participation in welfare programs is on the rise, and that the dollar costs...

More able parents tend to have more able children. While few would question the validity of this statement, there is little large-scale evidence on the intergenerational transmission of IQ scores. Using a larger and more comprehensive dataset than previous work, we are able to estimate the...

This paper uses the 1970, 1980, and 1990 Public Use Samples of the U.S. Census to document what happened to immigrant earnings in the 1980s, and to determine if pre-1980 immigrant flows reached earnings parity with natives. The relative entry wage of successive immigrant cohorts declined by 9...

This paper analyzes the return migration of foreign-born persons in the United States. We argue that return migration may have been planned as part of an optimal life cycle residential location sequence. Return migration also occurs because immigrants based their initial migration decision on...

Does it matter when a child starts school? While the popular press seems to suggest it does, there is limited evidence of a long-run effect of school starting age on student outcomes. This paper uses data on the population of Norway to examine the role of school starting age on longer-run...

This paper examines the evolution of the Mexican-born workforce in the United States using data drawn from the decennial U.S. Census throughout the entire 20th century. It is well known that there has been a rapid rise in Mexican immigration to the United States in recent years. Interestingly,...