Educational Attainment of Children of Immigrants: Evidence from
NLSY97
Jorgen Hansen
Xingfei Liu
Miroslav Kucera
Concordia University 1Educational Attainment of Children of
Immigrants: Evidence from Two Cohorts of American
YouthsObjectives2Compare educational attainment and early labour
market outcomes of young adults, by immigrant/ethnicity status
Formulate a structural model of schooling choices which will
enable us to determine the roles of family environment and
abilities in the educational decision process Such a model also
allows us to identify factors that may affect children of natives
and children of immigrants differently given their ethnicity
origins
Conduct policy reforms/changes using the estimated model
Concordia University 2Model 3Dynamic programming approach
Basic assumptions:
Young adults start making schooling decisions after age 16 Two
options in each period (school or work)Finite time horizon,
individuals retire at age 65
Concordia University Descriptive Statistics 4Children of
Immigrants Concordia University
See appendix for details4Descriptive Statistics
(continued)5Children of Natives
Concordia University
See appendix for details5Family backgrounds and AFQT (Marginal)6
Concordia University
More points later. One factor after one factor.6Results and
DiscussionConcordia University7Family background matters in shaping
youths educational attainment; a better family environment implies
higher educational attainment; this relationship weakens over the
decades (comparing NLSY97 with NLSY79).
Family background affects children of natives and children of
immigrants differently: i.e. for NLSY97, fathers education is more
important for White children of immigrants and Hispanic children of
natives, while AFQT scores are more important to Hispanic children
of immigrants (both NLSY79 and NLSY97).
Second-generation White immigrants rank first in terms of return
to education in NLSY97, while second-generation Hispanics rank
lowest. Second-generation Whites rank 3rd in NLSY79, while
second-generation Hispanics rank 2nd in NLSY79. Simulation Hispanic
children of immigConcordia University8 Simulation ResultsConcordia
University9If higher valuation of education for a specific
immigration/ethnic group is defined as obtaining higher average
years of schooling as well as having more individuals achieving
grades higher than high-school.
White children of immigrants from NLSY97 value education more
than White children of immigrants from NLSY79. Not much has been
changed for Hispanic second-generation immigrants.
Higher valuation of education for a specific immigration/ethnic
group implies higher average educational attainment as well as more
individuals achieving grades higher than high-school. 9Simulation
Results, contdConcordia University10Children of immigrants are
responsive to subsidies for high school and post-secondary
studiesHispanics are more sensitive to policy changes than WhitesA
subsidy of $6377 per year beyond high school can increase education
of Hispanic children of immigrants by 10.4%, and White children of
immigrants by 9.3%Improving immigrant parents educational
backgrounds has a much smaller impact on their educational
achievement,2.8% for Hispanics, and 0.3% for Whites.Summary of
ResultsConcordia University11Family environment matters in terms of
determining educational attainment of children of immigrants.
Improvement in these factors are observed in the data for all
immigration/ethnic groups through the decades, especially for
second-generation White immigrants.Children of immigrants, on
average, value education more than native children do, especially
for Hispanics.Children of immigrants with Hispanic origins are more
responsive to policy changes like subsidiesIncreasing educational
attainment of first generation immigrants appears to have a much
tamed effect on improving their childrens educational
attainment.
NLSY79 observed pct simulated pct simulated pct
grades Children of native White
Children of immigrants Hispanic
Children of immigrants Hispanic
With Family Backgrounds of
children of native White
4 0 0 0
5 0 0 0
6 0 0 0
7 0.45 4.35 0.3
8 1.66 4.35 1.13
9 3.1 14.49 2.57
10 4.61 8.7 4.46
11 8.38 5.8 7.33
12 37.24 39.13 32.48
13 8.84 5.8 10.2
14 7.18 4.35 8.31
15 4.68 4.35 4.68
16 14.58 7.25 16.77
17 4.76 1.45 5.06
18 2.64 0 3.63
19 1.59 0 2.57
20 0.3 0 0.53
mean 13.1292 11.58 13.4721
Rankings on Valuation of Education NLSY79 NLSY97 1 Hispanic
Children of Immigrants Hispanic Children of Immigrants 2 White
Children of Natives White Children of Immigrants 3 Hispanic
Children of Natives Hispanic Children of Natives 4 White Children
of Immigrants White Children of Natives
