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Working Paper Series 1999-2000
99-00-01 
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Gutmann, Myron P., Robert McCaa, Rodolfo Gutierrez-Montes,
Brian Gratton. "The Demographic Impact of the Mexican
Revolution in the United States"
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This paper uses data drawn from the U.S. Censuses of Population
enumerated between 1880 and 1940 to draw conclusions about
the demographic impact of the Mexican Revolution for the
United States. There was a substantial Mexican heritage
population in the United States as early as 1880. Earlier
migration flows were overwhelmed beginning in1906-07 with
a much larger stream, provoked by a combination of economic
and political conditions in Mexico and the United States.
The Mexican economy suffered severe setbacks after 1906;
after that political instability and armed conflict led
to both economic and political emigration from Mexico. In
the U.S. side a strong economy and demand for labor provided
a home for immigrants. The demographic data show a large
surge in immigration, the excess of which that is caused
by the Mexican Revolution is estimated in the paper to be
between 73,000 and 136,000 individuals between 1911 and
1919.
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99-00-02
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Antecol, Heather, Deborah A. Cobb-Clark, Stephen J. Trejo.
"Immigration Policy and the Skills of Immigrants to Australia,
Canada, and the United States"
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Census data for 1990/91 indicate that Australian and Canadian
immigrants have higher levels of English fluency, education,
and income (relative to natives) than do U.S. immigrants.
This skill deficit for US immigrants arises primarily because
the United States receives a much larger share of immigrants
from Latin America than do the other two countries. After
excluding Latin American immigrants, the observable skills
of immigrants are similar in the three countries. These
patterns suggest that the comparatively low overall skill
level of US immigrants may have more to do with geographic
and historical ties to Mexico than with the fact that skill-based
admissions are less important in the United States than
in Australia and Canada.
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99-00-03
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Trejo, Stephen J. "Intergenerational Progress of Mexican-Origin
Workers in the US Labor Market"
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Using unique Current Population Survey data from November
1979 and 1989, this paper compares the wage structure across
generations of Mexican-origin men. I find that the sizable
earnings advantage U.S.-born Mexican Americans enjoy over
Mexican immigrants arises not just from intergenerational
improvements in years of schooling and English proficiency,
but also from increased returns to human capital for Mexican-origin
workers who were born and educated in the United States.
Even if we consider immigrants who have worked in the United
States for 40 years and who therefore have had ample time
for labor market assimilation, my estimates indicate that
a discrete jump in earnings and the wage structure occurs
between the first and second generations. Progress seems
to stall after the second generation, however, as the much
more modest gains in schooling and English fluency that
occur between the second and third generations do not appear
to raise the earnings of Mexican Americans any further.
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99-00-04
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Hummer, Robert A., Richard G. Rogers, Stephanie Bond Huie,
Patrick Kreuger. "The Influence of Asset Ownership on
the Risk of Adult Mortality in the United States"
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An inverse association between socioeconomic status (SES)
and mortality risk dates back to early US records and exists
in all countries where it has been examined. However, few
studies have included detailed measures of SES that move
beyond the typical income, education, and occupational status
variables. Indeed, recent sociological work suggests that
asset and wealth variables may have strong influences on
the general well being of individuals in the US. Here, we
examine the relationship between the ownership of assets
and adult mortality risks in the US using the 1994 Family
Resources Supplement of the National Health Interview Survey
linked to deaths from the National Death Index through the
end of 1997. The data show that, net of basic SES characteristics,
people who report receiving interest and dividends-indicating
ownership of savings accounts and investments-as well as
people who own vehicles are characterized by somewhat lower
mortality risks than people who do not own these types of
assets. These effects do not differ greatly by gender, although
our analysis does reveal stronger income effects on mortality
risk for women. Further, the black-white difference in mortality
is reduced by the inclusion of asset variables, even beyond
the reduction produced by the basic SES variables. These
results suggest the need to further consider how a range
of SES characteristics beyond individual-level education
and income can work to influence the health and survival
of US adults.
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99-00-05
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Hazan, Miryam and Rodolfo O. de la Garza. "Political
Migration: Finding New Ways to Understand Mexican Migration
to the US"
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99-00-06
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Gutmann, Myron P., M. R. Haines, W. Parker Frisbie, W.
S. Blanchard. "Differences in Child Mortality within
the Hispanic Population, 1890-1910.
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99-00-07
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Gutmann, Myron P., Geoffrey A. Cunfer, Ingrid C. Burke,
William J. Parton. "Farm Programs, Land Use Decisions,
and Environment in the Great Plains, 1969-1992"
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Sakamoto, Arthur. "The Wages of Native-Born Asian
Americans at the end of the 20th Century"
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In this paper we compare the wages of whites and Asian
Americans during the period of 1994 to 1998. We find little
evidence to indicate that most native-born Asian American
men must have higher educational attainments than do white
men in order to obtain equivalent wages. Except at the very
highest level of educational attainment-which pertains to
a relatively small fraction of the total work force--native-born
Asian American men obtain wages that are at least as high
as those of white men with comparable education, experience
and place of residence. Among ative-born women, Asian Americans
also earn wages that are similar to those for whites with
comparable education, experience and place of residence.
Systematic racial discrimination against Asian Americans
is often assumed to be widespread in the labor market, but
our results are inconsistent with the straightforward application
of this conventional wisdom to wage determination for native-born
Asian Americans at the end of the 20th century.
The extent of racial discrimination in the distribution
of labor market rewards is one crucial aspect of racial
inequality in society. The analysis of racial differences
in socioeconomic attainments is thus intrinsically important.
Trends in racial differences in wages, earnings, occupational
status, unemployment, and socioeconomic mobility need to
be seriously studied and carefully analyzed because they
provide vital information about the degree of racial inequality
in the labor market which is a key arena that has a major
impact on the overall well-being of individuals in modern
society.
Although there are literally thousands of published studies
of the socioeconomic attainments of whites and African Americans,
research on the socioeconomic attainments of Asian Americans
is relatively rare, and those studies which are available
are often limited in various ways that compromise the extent
to which their conclusions can be generalized to the broader
populations of Asian Americans. Given this lacuna in labor
market studies of racial inequality, the general objective
of this paper is to improve our understanding of the socioeconomic
attainments of Asian Americans because we actually have
very little systematic information about this exceedingly
important and complex topic. We seek to contribute to the
literature by using the most recent available data on the
wages of whites and Asian Americans.
Research on the incomes of Asian Americans often involves
discussions of the ``model minority'' stereotype. Regarding
that issue, we do not contest the view that many people
may have an exaggerated image of the socioeconomic attainments
of Asian Americans and that this image may serve to legitimate
inequality. However, while we do not dispute the importance
of the ``model minority'' topic to the Asian American studies
literature, our objective is not to discuss stereotypes
and misperceptions, but rather to investigate the realities
of wage inequalities as they are revealed in high quality
data for Asian Americans. We do not believe that the putatively
conservative implications of the ``model minority'' stereotype
should discourage the systematic analysis of relevant data
regarding the actual socioeconomic attainments of Asian
Americans. To the contrary, the existence of such stereotypes
only heightens the importance of the general objective of
this paper.
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