DETERMINANTS OF ENGLISH PROFICIENCY AMONG MEXICAN MIGRANTS TO THE UNITED-STATES

We replicate prior research into the determinants of English language proficiency among immigrants using a dataset that controls for potenti al biases stemming from selective emigration, omitted variables, and t he mismeasurement of key constructs. In general, we reproduce the resu lts of earlier work, leading us to conclude that despite inherent meth odological problems, research based on cross-sectional censuses and su rveys yields fundamentally accurate conclusions. In particular, we fin d unambiguous evidence that English proficiency rises with exposure to U.S. society, and we reaffirm earlier work showing a clear pattern of language assimilation among Mexican migrants to the United States.