Age at Immigration and School Performance: A Siblings Analysis Using Swedish Register Data

Anders Böhlmark

No 6/2005, Working Paper Series from Stockholm University, Swedish Institute for Social Research

Abstract: This article analyzes the role of age at immigration for the school performance gap between native and immigrant pupils in Sweden. The analysis exploits within-family variation in a large set of register data on immigrant siblings (and native children) graduating from compulsory school (normally at age 16) between 1988 and 2003. The critical age at arrival is about nine, above which there is a strong negative impact on performance. The slopes of these age-at-immigration performance profiles are similar for boys and girls as well as for children from different family backgrounds, but they vary widely by region of origin. Moreover, the estimated profiles are flatter for Mathematics than for a range of subjects taken together. This demonstrates the importance of Sweden-specific skills. A comparison of sibling-difference and cross-sectional estimates reveals that they are strikingly similar.

Keywords: age at immigration; age at arrival; school performance; siblings approach (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I29 J15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 38 pages
Date: 2005-11-21, Revised 2007-12-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hrm
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Published in Labour Economics, 2008, pages 1366-1387.

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Related works:
Journal Article: Age at immigration and school performance: A siblings analysis using swedish register data (2008)
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