| Measuring Immigration Assimilation in the United States
Vigdor, Jacob L.
Center for Civic Innovation, The Manhattan Institute, May 2008, 56p
"The report [using census and other data] introduces a quantitative index that measures the degree of similarity between the United States' foreign-born and native-born populations. These included civic factors, economic factors, and cultural factors, such as English ability and degree of intermarriage with U.S. citizens. The higher the number on a 100-point index, the more an immigrant resembled a U.S. citizen. Overall, the longer an immigrant lives in the United States, the more characteristics of native citizens he or she tends to take on. However, the speed with which new arrivals take on native-born traits has increased since the 1990s. As a result, even though the foreign population doubled during that period, the newcomers did not drive down the overall assimilation index of the foreign-born population. Instead, it held relatively steady from 1990 to 2006.
Jacob L. Vigdor is an Associate Professor of Public Policy Studies and Economics at Duke University and Faculty Research Fellow, National Bureau of Economic Research.
Go to the
report at:
http://www.manhattan-institute.org/pdf/cr_53.pdf
E10/03-08. Posted July 23, 2008
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