Educational attainment across generations: The role of immigration background

This paper analyses educational attainment among immigrant and native-born youth in Australia. We find that young Australians from non-English-speaking-background (NESB) immigrant families have an educational advantage over their English-speaking-background (ESB) immigrant and Australian-born peers....

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Main Authors: Cobb-Clark, D., Nguyen, Ha
Format: Journal Article
Published: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Asia 2012
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/41046
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author Cobb-Clark, D.
Nguyen, Ha
author_facet Cobb-Clark, D.
Nguyen, Ha
author_sort Cobb-Clark, D.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description This paper analyses educational attainment among immigrant and native-born youth in Australia. We find that young Australians from non-English-speaking-background (NESB) immigrant families have an educational advantage over their English-speaking-background (ESB) immigrant and Australian-born peers. The educational advantages associated with immigrant parents’ higher educational attainment are counterbalanced by the disadvantages associated with immigrant families’ greater socioeconomic disadvantage, making endowment effects overall relatively unimportant in explaining the gap. Instead, most of the educational gap associated with immigration background stems from differences in the educational attainment of immigrant and native-born youths with the same characteristics. While immigrant parents do not have an enhanced ability to transmit their own educational advantage to their children, they are more effective in shielding their children from some of the negative educational consequences of socioeconomic disadvantage. Finally, immigrant youths’ residential patterns convey substantial educational advantages to them.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-410462017-09-13T14:28:47Z Educational attainment across generations: The role of immigration background Cobb-Clark, D. Nguyen, Ha This paper analyses educational attainment among immigrant and native-born youth in Australia. We find that young Australians from non-English-speaking-background (NESB) immigrant families have an educational advantage over their English-speaking-background (ESB) immigrant and Australian-born peers. The educational advantages associated with immigrant parents’ higher educational attainment are counterbalanced by the disadvantages associated with immigrant families’ greater socioeconomic disadvantage, making endowment effects overall relatively unimportant in explaining the gap. Instead, most of the educational gap associated with immigration background stems from differences in the educational attainment of immigrant and native-born youths with the same characteristics. While immigrant parents do not have an enhanced ability to transmit their own educational advantage to their children, they are more effective in shielding their children from some of the negative educational consequences of socioeconomic disadvantage. Finally, immigrant youths’ residential patterns convey substantial educational advantages to them. 2012 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/41046 10.1111/1475-4932.12001 Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Asia restricted
spellingShingle Cobb-Clark, D.
Nguyen, Ha
Educational attainment across generations: The role of immigration background
title Educational attainment across generations: The role of immigration background
title_full Educational attainment across generations: The role of immigration background
title_fullStr Educational attainment across generations: The role of immigration background
title_full_unstemmed Educational attainment across generations: The role of immigration background
title_short Educational attainment across generations: The role of immigration background
title_sort educational attainment across generations: the role of immigration background
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/41046