Explaining the Mexican-American Health Paradox Using Selectivity Effects

Jose N. Martinez, Ernesto Aguayo-Téllez and Erick Rangel-Gonzalez

International Migration Review, 2015, vol. 49, issue 4, 878-906

Abstract: type="main" xml:id="imre12112-abs-0001">

While typically socioeconomically disadvantaged, Mexican migrants in the United States tend to have better health outcomes than non-Hispanic whites. This phenomenon is known as the “hispanic health paradox”. Using data from Mexico and the United States, we examine several health outcomes for non-Hispanic whites and Mexicans in the United States and in Mexico and employ Blinder–Oaxaca decompositions to help explain the paradox. We find evidence that selectivity is playing a significant role in the relatively healthy status of Mexican migrants in the United States. More importantly, there is evidence that health selectivity is a complex process and its effects typically do not work the same way for different health conditions and across genders. We also find evidence that some of migrants' health advantages are lost as they spend more time in the United States.

Date: 2015
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/imre.2015.49.issue-4 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
Working Paper: Explaining the Mexican-American Health Paradox Using Selectivity Effects (2015)
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:bla:intmig:v:49:y:2015:i:4:p:878-906

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=0197-9183

Access Statistics for this article

International Migration Review is currently edited by Ellen Percy Kraly

More articles in International Migration Review from Wiley Blackwell
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().