Background matters, but not whether parents are immigrants: outcomes of children born in Denmark

Jensen, Mathias Fjællegaard and Manning, Alan ORCID: 0000-0002-7884-3580 (2025) Background matters, but not whether parents are immigrants: outcomes of children born in Denmark. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 17 (3). 347 - 379. ISSN 1945-7782

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Abstract

In Europe, the children of migrants often have worse economic outcomes than those with local-born parents. This paper shows that children born in Denmark with immigrant parents (first-generation locals) have lower earnings, higher unemployment, less education, more welfare transfers, and more criminal convictions than children with local-born parents. However, when we condition on parental socioeconomic characteristics, first-generation locals generally perform as well or slightly better than the children of locals. While children of immigrants are more likely to come from deprived backgrounds, they do not experience substantially different outcomes conditional on parental background.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/app.202...
Divisions:	Economics
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory H Social Sciences
JEL classification:	I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I3 - Welfare and Poverty > I38 - Government Policy; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J1 - Demographic Economics > J13 - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J1 - Demographic Economics > J15 - Economics of Minorities and Races; Non-labor Discrimination J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J3 - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs > J31 - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials by Skill, Training, Occupation, etc. J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J8 - Labor Standards: National and International > J82 - Labor Force Composition
Date Deposited:	20 Dec 2024 11:15
Last Modified:	18 Jul 2025 14:54
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/126521

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