Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/34029 
Year of Publication: 
2006
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 2269
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper examines determinants of inter-metropolitan destination choice for foreign-born and 1.5 generation adult children of immigrants in the US. An immigrant concentration-weighted accessibility parameter is included to assess the spatial structure of destination choice. A comparative origin-destination immigrant-native wage gap measure is also a strong determinant of destination choice, indicating the significance of relative labor market position. Although spatial assimilation perspectives would suggest that intergenerational social mobility should be connected with spatial dispersion, these models reveal the continuing importance of immigrant concentration for the 1.5 generation. When the destination concentration variable is added to reduced-form models, the positive effect of employment growth declines significantly, indicating that ethnic concentration may continue to be more important for the children of immigrants than more simply-framed economic conditions. Further, the increased model strength and parameter estimates associated with immigrant concentration and the accessibility measure suggest the spatial structure of destination choice depends on immigrant concentration at multiple scales - both to metro areas and to immigrant states or regions. The paper thus presents evidence for and suggests more attention to theorizing the geographic contexts of intergenerational immigrant incorporation, - 1.5 generation ; internal migration ; immigrant economic incorporation ; spatial assimilation
JEL: 
J61
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
442.42 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.