Bleakley Hoyt, Chin Aimee
Bleakley: Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago, 5807 South Woodlawn Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60637, Center for Research and Analysis of Migration, and National Bureau of Economic Research (email:
Am Econ J Appl Econ. 2010 Jan 1;2(1):165. doi: 10.1257/app.2.1.165.
Are U.S. immigrants' English proficiency and social outcomes the result of their cultural preferences, or of more fundamental constraints? Using 2000 Census microdata, we relate immigrants' English proficiency, marriage, fertility and residential location variables to their age at arrival in the U.S., and in particular whether that age fell within the "critical period" of language acquisition. We interpret the differences between younger and older arrivers as effects of English-language skills and construct an instrumental variable for English-language skills. Two-stage-least-squares estimates suggest that English proficiency increases the likelihood of divorce and intermarriage. It decreases fertility and, for some, ethnic enclave residence. (JEL J24, J12, J13, J61).
美国移民的英语水平和社会成果是其文化偏好的结果，还是更根本的限制因素所致？利用2000年人口普查微观数据，我们将移民的英语水平、婚姻状况、生育率和居住地点变量与其抵达美国时的年龄联系起来，特别是该年龄是否处于语言习得的“关键期”。我们将年轻和年长移民之间的差异解释为英语技能的影响，并构建了一个英语技能的工具变量。两阶段最小二乘法估计表明，英语水平提高了离婚和异族通婚的可能性。它降低了生育率，对一些人来说，还减少了在族裔聚居区居住的可能性。（《经济学期刊分类号》J24、J12、J13、J61）
