Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/84799 
Year of Publication: 
2013
Series/Report no.: 
ZEF Discussion Papers on Development Policy No. 182
Publisher: 
University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF), Bonn
Abstract: 
We draw a distinction between the social integration and economic assimilation of migrants, and study an interaction between the two. We define social integration as blending into the host country´s society, and economic assimilation as acquisition of human capital that is specific to the host country´s labor market. We show that a non-integrated migrant finds it optimal to acquire a relatively limited quantity of human capital; with fellow migrants constituting his only comparison group, a non-integrated migrant does not have a relative-deprivation-based incentive to close the income gap with the natives. However, when a migrant is made to integrate, his social proximity to the natives exposes him to relative deprivation, which in turn prompts him to form more destination-specific human capital in order to increase his earnings and narrow the income gap with the natives. In this way, social integration becomes a catalyst for economic assimilation.
Subjects: 
Assimilation
Integration
Social proximity
Interpersonal comparisons
Relative deprivation
Human capital formation
JEL: 
D01
F22
J15
J24
J61
O15
Z10
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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