The solution of the immigrant paradox: aspirations and expectations of children of migrants

Michel Beine, Ana Cecilia Montes Vinas () and Skerdilajda Zanaj
Additional contact information
Ana Cecilia Montes Vinas: Department of Economics and Management, Université du Luxembourg

DEM Discussion Paper Series from Department of Economics at the University of Luxembourg

Abstract: (To consult this DP, please send an e-mail to dem@uni.lu) In this paper, we push forward the hypothesis that misalignment between expectations and aspira- tions crucially affects the educational outcomes of young adults. Using AddHealth, a dataset of 20,774 adolescents between the grades 7-12, we show that the difference in school performance between mi- grant children and natives lies within the aspirations and expectations that migrant children form. More specifically, we find that positive misalignment between aspirations and expectations is a driving force for higher effort and better education outcomes of immigrant teenagers in the USA. This force resolves the well-known immigrant paradox. Furthermore, this result is specific to migrant children and does not hold for second-generation migrant pupils.

Keywords: Add-health database; aspirations; expectations; immigrant paradox; education achievements. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F22 I20 I21 I26 J15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-eur, nep-mig and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.uni.lu/fdef-en/research-departments/de ... gement/publications/ (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:luc:wpaper:20-26

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in DEM Discussion Paper Series from Department of Economics at the University of Luxembourg Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Marina Legrand ().