SELECTIVE EMIGRATION, COHORT QUALITY, AND MODELS OF IMMIGRANT ASSIMILATION

In this article we identify sample underenumeration, changing cohort q uality, and selective emigration as problems that threaten the validit y of findings on immigrant socioeconomic assimilation derived from cro ss-sectional data. Using information on Mexican immigrants from the 19 90 U.S. census and a unique binational source of data, we address the effects of these problems on cross-sectional regressions of English pr oficiency and wage attainment. Our results suggest that the underenume ration of temporary and undocumented migrants biases the estimated eff ects of human capital variables downward, but that selective emigratio n does not significantly affect cross-sectional models. We do find, ho wever, that period of entry is a poor proxy for total migrant experien ce, and when we disentangle duration and cohort effects, we find some evidence for shifts in cohort quality over time, but not the systemati c decline seen by others. (C) 1994 Academic Press, Inc.