Immigrants and wealth attainment: migration, inequality, and integration

Abstract

Wealth is an important measure of advantage and disadvantage, especially in a global context of wage stagnation, growing debt, and rising inequality. We see research on the wealth attainment of immigrants and their descendants as fundamental to understanding patterns of migration, stratification, and integration. The collection of papers in this volume link ethnic and migration studies to literatures on wealth inequality and demonstrate how individual-level characteristics, selection effects, global patterns of migration, and varied host-society contexts shape social and economic integration and the reproduction of inequalities in the U.S., Latin America, and China. This special issue underscores the necessity of placing wealth attainment at the centre of ethnic and migration studies, especially as population movements expand at a rapid pace and as income and wealth inequality widens across the globe.

Giving (Money) Back To Parents: Racial/Ethnic and Immigrant–Native Variation in Monetary Exchanges During the Transition to Adulthood

“…Furthermore, income and wage gaps remain between Whites and racial minorities across occupations (Chetty et al 2018; Browne and Misra 2003). Similarly, immigrants amass less wealth than non‐immigrants, which further feeds racial/ethnic differences in wealth (Agius Vallejo and Keister 2019), disparities that are documented in young adulthood (Mossakowski 2012). Thus, any racial/ethnic differences in monetary exchanges may be expressions of resource differences across groups (Fingerman et al 2015).…”

The Wealth Gap between Ageing Immigrants and Native-Born in Ten European Countries

“…In such cases, immigrants are more likely to remit and transfer money to family members left in their country of origin than to receive transfers and financial support [e.g. Vallejo and Keister 2019]. Furthermore, in many cases, immigration implies a break with the past, which decreases family ties and the likelihood of receiving intergenerational transfers.…”

Childhood Wealth Inequality in the United States: Implications for Social Stratification and Well-Being

“…The typical connotation of the American dream-of "making it"-is a house on a leafy street with a picket fence. For immigrants, homeownership is also evidence of incorporation in the economy and culture of the arrival country (Myers and Lee 1998;Sánchez 2018;Agius Vallejo and Keister 2019). This symbolism gives wealth particular meaning for the subjective experience of social and economic position, opportunity, and belonging.…”