Do immigrants counter the effect of cultural distance on trade? Evidence from US state-level exports

We examine the effects of immigrants and cultural distance on US state-level exports, placing emphasis on the extent to which immigrants may offset the influence of cultural distance with respect to the initiation and intensification of exports. Our findings suggest that greater cultural differences between the US and immigrants’ home countries reduce both the likelihood that exporting occurs and, when exporting is taking place, the level of exports. Immigrants are found to exert pro-export effects that offset, at least partially, the trade-inhibiting effects of cultural distance. The estimated effects of both cultural distance and immigrants are found to be greater when the level of exports is examined as compared to when the likelihood that exporting occurs is considered; however, significant variation in the export-initiation and intensification effects of immigrants and cultural distance is reported across states.     

The health experience of Irish people in a North West London 'community saved'

This paper describes the development of a 'community saved' among first generation Irish immigrants in London. A 'community saved' is defined by its containment of numerous personal relationships formed over time; it is 'densely knit' and 'bounded'. Within this paper links are described between the development and survival of this Irish immigrant community, with its emphasis upon both family ties and work as a means of enhancing social cohesion, and its members' lived health experience. Social theory in its most comprehensive form, as a 'tool' of social research which seeks to provide explanations of events in the real world, provides a unifying theoretical framework for the study. The development of 'social capital', or the growth of values such as trust and reciprocity that facilitate societal functioning and community life, provides the main unifying theme linking community life to health experience. Precisely how it does so may mean moving, at times, in and out of empirical data. It involves participants using their own words and their own phrases to describe their particular experience: an exposition beyond the scope of mere statistical measurement. Cette article offre un portrait d'une 'communauté sauvée' parmi des immigrés irlandais Londinien de la première génération. Une 'communuaté sauvée' se défine par son endiguement de plusiers rapports crées depuis longtemps. C'est une communuaté unie et bornée qui met en valeur les rapports familiales et le travail comme moyens d améliorer la cohésion sociale. L'article brosse un tableau des liens entre le développement et la survivance de cette colonie irlandaise, et ses expériences vis àvis de la santé. La théorie sociale, dans sa forme la plus compréhensive, c'est àdire comme un instrument de recherche sociale qui s'addresse à expliquer les événements dans la vie réelle, fournit ici un cadre théorique unifiant. Le développement du 'biens d'équipement' où la croissance des valeurs telles que la confiance et la réciprocité, valeurs facilitant le fonctionnement de la societé et la vie associative, fournit la thème qui unit la vie associative aux expériences salutaires.     

Gatekeepers of the American Dream: How teachers’ perceptions shape the academic outcomes of immigrant and language-minority students

High school teachers evaluate and offer guidance to students as they approach the transition to college based in part on their perceptions of the student's hard work and potential to succeed in college. Their perceptions may be especially crucial for immigrant and language-minority students navigating the U.S. educational system. Using the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002), we consider how the intersection of nativity and language-minority status may (1) inform teachers’ perceptions of students’ effort and college potential, and (2) shape the link between teachers’ perceptions and students’ academic progress towards college (grades and likelihood of advancing to more demanding math courses). We find that teachers perceive immigrant language-minority students as hard workers, and that their grades reflect that perception. However, these same students are less likely than others to advance in math between the sophomore and junior years, a critical point for preparing for college. Language-minority students born in the U.S. are more likely to be negatively perceived. Yet, when their teachers see them as hard workers, they advance in math at the same rates as nonimmigrant native English speaking peers. Our results demonstrate the importance of considering both language-minority and immigrant status as social dimensions of students’ background that moderate the way that high school teachers’ perceptions shape students’ preparation for college.     

Building relationships and facilitating immigrant community integration: An evaluation of a Cultural Navigator Program

Despite the long history of immigration in the United States, communities around the country struggle to integrate newcomers into the economic, cultural, and political spheres of society. Utilizing results from the program evaluation of one public library's Cultural Navigator Program, the authors illustrate how communities and public institutions can promote integration and relationship-building between newly arrived immigrants and long-time residents. Existing social networks within receiving communities, conceptualized in this article as social capital, were leveraged to build capacity among newly arrived immigrants and foster inclusivity and integration at the community level. As a place of intervention, public libraries are suggested as a safe and shared space where community integration can be fostered. Insights derived from the evaluation inform a discussion on engaging approaches to immigrant integration. Lessons learned and recommendations for program evaluators and administrators are provided.     

The Relation between Ethnic and Civic Views on Citizenship,Attitudes towards Immigrants and Sympathy for Welfare Recipients

In this study we investigate the relationship between different definitions of national citizenship, sympathy for welfare recipients, and how this relation is mediated by attitudes towards immigrants. We make use of the 2008 wave of the Belgian Political Panel Survey 2006–11, in which over 4,800 18‐year‐old adolescents were questioned. The results demonstrate that an agreement with both ethnic and civic definitions of national citizenship is related to reduced sympathy for welfare recipients, although the association with an ethnic view on citizenship is clearly dominant. Furthermore, these relations are almost entirely of an indirect nature: ethnic and civic citizenship attitudes are associated with negative views on immigrants, which, in turn, is the key variable that is associated with reduced sympathy for welfare recipients.     

The value of education among immigrants and non-immigrants and how this translates into educational aspirations: a comparison of four European countries

Starting out from the frequent empirical finding that immigrants exhibit higher educational aspirations than non-immigrants, we analyse the role of immigrants’ value of education, i.e. the subjective belief that education is beneficial for one’s life, in idealistic and realistic educational aspirations in four distinct institutional settings, comparing Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands and England. While the first part of the analyses relates to how immigrants differ from non-immigrants in the value they assign to education, the second part centres on country differences considering immigrant integration policies and education systems as crucial factors. A third part relates to the links between the value of education and educational aspirations to gain some insight into how the value of education may contribute to educational decisions. Analyses are based on longitudinal data of the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries (CILS4EU). While results show that immigrants assign a higher value to education, the value of education does play a minor role in idealistic and realistic educational aspirations. The results of the country comparison are rather ambivalent, including very weak support for the argument that immigrants strive for education to a higher extent in countries with less favourable conditions.     

Language skills and earnings among legalized aliens

This paper uses the data on males and females from the 1989 Legalized Population Survey (LPS), a sample of aliens granted amnesty under 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, to analyse English language proficiency and earnings. We use a model of English language proficiency that is based on economic incentives, exposure and efficiency variables that measure the costs and benefits of aquiring English language skills. Consistent with the model, in this sample of former illegal aliens, English language proficiency is greater for those with more schooling, who immigrated at a younger age, who have been in the United States longer, with a more continous stay, and who have less access to other origin language speakers where they live. Earnings are higher by about 8% for men and 17% for women who are proficient in both speaking and reading English, compared to those lacking both skills. Received: 13 February 1998/Accepted: 9 July 1998     

Characteristics of cities that pass living wage ordinances: Are certain conditions more conducive than others?

Cities that have passed living wage ordinances often do so because of the strong political appeal of local living wage campaigns as a response to the declining value of the minimum wage, the outsourcing of municipal services, and rising income inequality. These campaigns generally consist of coalitions of community organizations, religious groups, and often times labor organizations. Organized labor is not the primary force behind most living wage campaigns, but they are an important constituency. Unexplored, however, are the labor market and other characteristics of those cities that have passed ordinances. This paper looks at data from the Current Population Survey (CPS) and compares cities that passed living wage ordinances to those that did not. Cities in states with high union density, and with higher levels of income inequality and larger immigrant populations appear to be more likely to pass living wage ordinances than those cities that do not have these demographics. But as important as union support may be, without key demographic and economic characteristics, it is nonetheless insufficient to achieve living wage ordinances in most cases.     

Computer usage, destination language proficiency and the earnings of natives and immigrants

This paper uses the concept of a computer as a public good within the household to model the demand for computers at home. It also investigates the determinants, and consequences for earnings, of computer use. The equations are estimated using data on the native born and immigrants from the 2001 Census of Population and Housing in Australia. The multivariate analyses show that recent arrivals are more likely to use computers than the Australian born. The data suggests a high degree of favorable selection in migration as the level of computer use in Australia is much higher than in most of the countries that Australia’s immigrants come from. Those with a higher permanent income (education, household assets) are more likely to have a computer at home, but there is no effect of transitory income (unemployment). Immigrants who are more proficient in English are also more likely to use a computer. The relation between age and computer use is strongly influenced by cohort effects. Using a computer at home is associated with about 7% and 13% higher earnings for native-born and foreign-born men, respectively. For the immigrants, the effects of schooling and English language proficiency on earnings are greater among those who use a computer at home. This suggests complementarity in the labor market. The use of a computer is shown to be a way the foreign born can increase the international transferability of their pre-immigration skills, a finding that has implications for immigrant assimilation policies.

Aliens,Subjects and the State: Surveillance in British Hotels during World War I

The apparatus of the state expanded in unprecedented ways during World War I, with implications for longstanding practices and legal principles which governed the relationship between guests and staff within hotels and similar lodgings. Commercial hostelries were required, under successive Orders in Council, to register the movement of guests and supply these details to police authorities on state-mandated forms. This idea was new to the United Kingdom, where jurisprudence had upheld the right of guests to receive accommodation in anonymity. Exploring how institutions grappled with new regimes of surveillance, this article reveals how the British hotel’s relationship to the state and to guests of all nationalities changed dramatically in the course of war, with implications for the operation of the post-war hospitality sector.