Leaving the Enclave: Historical Evidence on Immigrant Mobility from the Industrial Removal Office

Ran Abramitzky, Leah Boustan and Dylan Connor
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Ran Abramitzky: Stanford University
Leah Boustan: Princeton University
Dylan Connor: Arizona State University

Working Papers from Princeton University. Economics Department.

Abstract: We study a program that funded 39,000 Jewish households in New York City to leave enclave neighborhoods circa 1910. Compared to their neighbors with the same occupation and income score at baseline, program participants earned 4 percent more ten years after removal, and these gains persisted to the next generation. Men who left enclaves also married spouses with less Jewish names, but they did not choose less Jewish names for their children. Gains were largest for men who spent more years outside of an enclave. Our results suggest that leaving ethnic neighborhoods could facilitate economic advancement and assimilation into the broader society, but might make it more difficult to retain cultural identity.

Keywords: New York City; urban; Jewish; ethnic neighborhoods; migration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J15 N12 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his and nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pri:econom:2020-35

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