A Reluctance to Assimilate

Oded Stark and C. Simon Fan

No 7125, Discussion Papers from University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF)

Abstract: Quite often, migrants appear to exert little effort to absorb the mainstream culture and to learn the language of their host society, even though the economic returns (increased productivity and enhanced earnings) to assimilation are high. We show that when interpersonal comparisons affect individuals' wellbeing and when a more intensive assimilation results in migrants' comparing themselves more with the richer natives and less with fellow migrants, then the effort extended to assimilate will be muted.

Keywords: Labor; and; Human; Capital (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 12
Date: 2006
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/7125/files/dp060111.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: A Social Proximity Explanation of the Reluctance to Assimilate (2007)
Working Paper: A social proximity explanation of the reluctance to assimilate (2007)
Working Paper: A reluctance to assimilate (2006)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:ubzefd:7125

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.7125

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