Working Paper: NBER ID: w22748
Authors: Nathaniel Hilger
Abstract: Asian Americans are the only non-white US racial group to experience long-term, institutional discrimination and subsequently exhibit high income. I re-examine this puzzle in California, where most Asians settled historically. Asians achieved extraordinary upward mobility relative to blacks and whites for every cohort born in California since 1920. This mobility stemmed primarily from gains in earnings conditional on education, rather than unusual educational mobility. Historical test score and prejudice data suggest low initial earnings for Asians, unlike blacks, reflected prejudice rather than skills. Post-war declines in discrimination interacting with previously uncompensated skills can account for Asians’ extraordinary upward mobility.
Keywords: Upward Mobility; Discrimination; Asian Americans; Income Growth; Intergenerational Mobility
JEL Codes: J15; J31; J62; J7
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Decline in legal discrimination from 1943 to 1959 (J71) | Upward mobility for Asians (J62) |
| Closure of the conditional earnings gap between Asians and Whites (J79) | Significant earnings gains for Asians (J31) |
| Initial earnings gaps for Asians reflected prejudice (J15) | Closure of the conditional earnings gap between Asians and Whites (J79) |
| High dynastic income growth (N15) | High Asian income (N95) |
| Gains in earnings conditional on education (I26) | Rapid dynastic income growth of Asians (N15) |