Ethnicity, Neighborhoods, and Human Capital Externalities

57 Pages Posted: 13 Aug 2000 Last revised: 5 Jun 2022

See all articles by George J. Borjas

George J. Borjas

Harvard University - Harvard Kennedy School (HKS); National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Date Written: November 1994

Abstract

The socioeconomic performance of today's workers depends not only on parental skills, but also on the average skills of the ethnic group in the parent's generation (or ethnic capital). This paper investigates the link between the ethnic externality and ethnic neighborhoods. The evidence indicates that residential segregation and the external effect of ethnicity are linked, partly because ethnic capital summarizes the socioeconomic background of the neighborhood where the children were raised. Ethnicity has an external effect, even among persons who grow up in the same neighborhood, when children are exposed frequently to persons who share the same ethnic background.

Suggested Citation

Borjas, George J., Ethnicity, Neighborhoods, and Human Capital Externalities (November 1994). NBER Working Paper No. w4912, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=238134

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