New Evidence of Generational Progress for Mexican Americans

73 Pages Posted: 14 Nov 2024

See all articles by Brian Duncan

Brian Duncan

University of Colorado at Denver

Jeffrey Grogger

University of Chicago - Harris School of Public Policy; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Ana Leon

Universidad Diego Portales

Stephen J. Trejo

University of Texas at Austin - Department of Economics; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

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Abstract

U.S.-born Mexican Americans suffer a large schooling deficit relative to other Americans, and standard data sources suggest that this deficit does not shrink between the 2nd and later generations. Standard data sources lack information on grandparents’ countries of birth, however, which creates potentially serious issues for tracking the progress of later-generation Mexican Americans. Exploiting unique NLSY97 data that address these measurement issues, we find substantial educational progress between the 2nd and 3rd generations for a recent cohort of Mexican Americans. Such progress is obscured when we instead mimic the limitations inherent in standard data sources. Similar patterns emerge for cognitive test scores and for annual earnings.

Keywords: Mexican Americans, generational progress, assimilation

JEL Classification: J15, J61, J62

Suggested Citation

Duncan, Brian and Grogger, Jeffrey T. and Leon, Ana and Trejo, Stephen J., New Evidence of Generational Progress for Mexican Americans. IZA Discussion Paper No. 12704, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5020379 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5020379

Brian Duncan (Contact Author)

University of Colorado at Denver ( email )

Box 173364
1250 14th Street
Denver, CO 80217
United States

Jeffrey T. Grogger

University of Chicago - Harris School of Public Policy ( email )

1155 East 60th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Ana Leon

Universidad Diego Portales ( email )

Vergara 210
Santiago
Chile

Stephen J. Trejo

University of Texas at Austin - Department of Economics ( email )

Austin, TX 78712
United States
512-475-8512 (Phone)
512-471-3510 (Fax)

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

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