Is Child like Parent? Educational Attainment and Ethnic Origin

Ira Gang and Klaus Zimmermann ()

No 57, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: The speed at which immigrants assimilate is the subject of debate. Human capital formation plays a major role in this discussion. This paper compares the educational attainment of second generation immigrants to those of natives in the same age cohort. Evidence using a large German data set suggests ethnicity does matter: the size of the ethnic network has a positive effect on educational attainment, and a clear pattern is exhibited between countries-of-origin and educational attainment even in the second generation. For the children of the foreign-born, parental schooling plays no role in making educational choices. However, for Germans, contrary to the general findings in the literature, there is a statistically significant difference in favor of father´s education over mother’s education.

Keywords: migration; education; second generation migrants; ethnicity; Assimilation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I21 J15 J62 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 32 pages
Date: 1999-09
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (28)

Published - published in: Journal of Human Resources, 2000, 35 (3), 550-569

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Related works:
Journal Article: Is Child like Parent? Educational Attainment and Ethnic Origin (2000)
Working Paper: Is Child Like Parent? Educational Attainment and Ethnic Origin (1999)
Working Paper: Is Child Like Parent? Educational Attainment and Ethnic Origin (1996)
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