Conference on Immigration.

• Position: Jan 23-24, 1997

On January 23 and 24, the NBER held a "Conference on Immigration" in Cambridge. This conference, organized by NBER Research Associate George J. Borjas, also of Harvard University, reported on the results of a long-term NBER project on the same topic. The agenda for the two-day conference was:

George J. Borjas, "The Economic Progress of Immigrants"

Discussant: Francine Blau, NBER and Cornell University

David Card, NBER and University of California, Berkeley, John DiNardo, NBER and University of California, Irvine, and Eugena Estes, Princeton University, "The More Things Change: Immigrants and the Children of Immigrants in the 1940s, the 1970s, and the 1990s"

Discussant: George Johnson, University of Michigan

Edward P. Lazear, NBER and Stanford University, "Diversity and Immigration"

Discussant: Daniel S. Hamermesh, NBER and University of Texas

Julian Betts and Magnus Lofstrom, University of California, San Diego, "The Educational Attainment of Immigrants: Trends and Implications"

Discussant: Carolyn M. Hoxby, NBER and Harvard University

Edward Funkhouser, University of California, Santa Barbara, "Convergence in Employment Rates of Immigrants"

Discussant: Lawrence F. Katz, NBER and Harvard University

Janet Currie, NBER and University of California, Los Angeles, "Do Children of Immigrants Make Differential Use of Public Health Insurance?"

Discussant: Rachel M. Friedberg, NBER and Brown University

Alan L. Gustman, NBER and Dartmouth College, and Thomas Steinmeier, Texas Technology University, "Social Security Benefits of Immigrants and U.S. Born"

Discussant: Richard Freeman, NBER and Harvard University

Kristin Butcher, Boston College, and Anne Piehl, NBER and University of California, Berkeley, "The Role of Deportation in the Incarceration of Immigrants"

Discussant Jeffrey Grogger, NBER and University of California, Los Angeles

Borjas studies the economic progress experienced by immigrants in the U.S. labor market. He uses decennial Census data from 1970 to 1990 and finds that the correlation between the (log) entry wage and the rate of wage growth is positive. Further, the same source country characteristics that lead to high wages at the time of entry also lead to faster wage growth.

Card, DiNardo, and Estes present a comparative perspective on the economic performance of immigrants and their children. Using data from the 1940 and 1970 Censuses, and from recent (1994-6) Current Population Surveys, they find important links between the...