Negative and Positive Assimilation, Skill Transferability, and Linguistic Distance
This paper synthesizes two models of immigrant assimilation: “positive assimilation” if earnings rise with duration as destination-relevant skills are acquired and “negative assimilation” if immigrants with highly transferable skills experience declining earnings as their economic rent diminishes. H...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Published: |
University of Chicago Press
2012
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/664794 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/17619 |
| _version_ | 1848749513504718848 |
|---|---|
| author | Chiswick, Barry Miller, Paul |
| author_facet | Chiswick, Barry Miller, Paul |
| author_sort | Chiswick, Barry |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | This paper synthesizes two models of immigrant assimilation: “positive assimilation” if earnings rise with duration as destination-relevant skills are acquired and “negative assimilation” if immigrants with highly transferable skills experience declining earnings as their economic rent diminishes. Hypotheses are developed and tested with earnings of adult male immigrants in the 2000 U.S. Census. “Linguistic distance” from English of an immigrant’s mother tongue is the index of skill transferability. Only immigrants from English-speaking developed countries experience negative assimilation. Immigrants from other countries experience positive assimilation, the degree of assimilation increasing with linguistic distance. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T07:22:08Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-17619 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T07:22:08Z |
| publishDate | 2012 |
| publisher | University of Chicago Press |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-176192017-05-30T08:12:18Z Negative and Positive Assimilation, Skill Transferability, and Linguistic Distance Chiswick, Barry Miller, Paul Linguistic distance skill transferability immigrant assimilation This paper synthesizes two models of immigrant assimilation: “positive assimilation” if earnings rise with duration as destination-relevant skills are acquired and “negative assimilation” if immigrants with highly transferable skills experience declining earnings as their economic rent diminishes. Hypotheses are developed and tested with earnings of adult male immigrants in the 2000 U.S. Census. “Linguistic distance” from English of an immigrant’s mother tongue is the index of skill transferability. Only immigrants from English-speaking developed countries experience negative assimilation. Immigrants from other countries experience positive assimilation, the degree of assimilation increasing with linguistic distance. 2012 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/17619 http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/664794 University of Chicago Press fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Linguistic distance skill transferability immigrant assimilation Chiswick, Barry Miller, Paul Negative and Positive Assimilation, Skill Transferability, and Linguistic Distance |
| title | Negative and Positive Assimilation, Skill Transferability, and Linguistic Distance |
| title_full | Negative and Positive Assimilation, Skill Transferability, and Linguistic Distance |
| title_fullStr | Negative and Positive Assimilation, Skill Transferability, and Linguistic Distance |
| title_full_unstemmed | Negative and Positive Assimilation, Skill Transferability, and Linguistic Distance |
| title_short | Negative and Positive Assimilation, Skill Transferability, and Linguistic Distance |
| title_sort | negative and positive assimilation, skill transferability, and linguistic distance |
| topic | Linguistic distance skill transferability immigrant assimilation |
| url | http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/664794 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/17619 |