Age-of-Arrival Effects on the Education of Immigrant Children : A Sibling Study

This paper analyses the effects of late entry on the human capital of immigrant children, and investigates the channels via which age-at-migration affects the native-immigration education gap. Ordinary-least-squares estimates can be biased if parents factor the age of children into their migration decision. Using a sample of siblings from the 2000 U.S. Census, the paper employs a family fixed- effects estimation strategy and finds a negative and convex relationship between human capital and age-of-arrival. Teenage entrants’ outcomes are affected the worst compared to younger entrants. Language is an important mediating factor via which age-of-arrival influences education. The critical age for English proficiency is 8-10. Age-of-arrival affects education not only through language but also via heterogeneous origin country conditions. The additional privileges of birth-right citizenship, if any, are disentangled from the benefits of zero age-of-arrival for natives. Citizenship by birth provides few advantages, except for college enrollment. Results are robust to sample selection changes