Occupational aspirations and ethnic school segregation: social contagion effects among native German and immigrant youths

In this study, I broaden the perspective on young immigrants’ aspirations by looking at their social embeddedness in the host society in terms of their institutionally predefined ties to school peers. In particular, I investigate the relationship between the aspirations of immigrant and native youths with special regard to the social mechanisms that may underlie peer influences. My analyses are based on multilevel data on ninth graders from the German National Educational Panel Study. The results show that a high ratio of immigrants in schools positively influences the aspirations of both immigrant and native German youths by way of school climate. However, the same context has different effects on different groups of origin. For those of Turkish descent, ‘ethnic schools’ are of twofold significance: first, the aspiration gap between Turks and native Germans decreases with increasing segregation, an effect that may be attributable to less perceived discriminatory experiences in school. Second, Turkish young people's stronger adaptation to the climate in ethnically segregated schools reinforces the protective effect of ethnic segregation and, additionally, lowers the aspirations of these youths. That is, immigrants’ stronger orientation towards their in-group seems to contribute to a buffer against discrimination.     

Identification and Estimation of a Discrete Game of Complete Information

We discuss the identification and estimation of discrete games of complete information. Following Bresnahan and Reiss (1990, 1991), a discrete game is a generalization of a standard discrete choice model where utility depends on the actions of other players. Using recent algorithms to compute all of the Nash equilibria to a game, we propose simulation‐based estimators for static, discrete games. We demonstrate that the model is identified under weak functional form assumptions using exclusion restrictions and an identification at infinity approach. Monte Carlo evidence demonstrates that the estimator can perform well in moderately sized samples. As an application, we study entry decisions by construction contractors to bid on highway projects in California. We find that an equilibrium is more likely to be observed if it maximizes joint profits, has a higher Nash product, uses mixed strategies, and is not Pareto dominated by another equilibrium.