"Financing Low-Income Communities fills a significant gap in the literature on community development. While much has been written about organizational and political issues, relatively few works explain how to finance activities at the neighborhood level. By definition, low-income communities lack assets. This book is a guide for practitioners and a contribution to scholarship concerning best practices in raising the funds necessary to bring projects to fruition."
-Susan S. Fainstein, Harvard University Graduate School of Design

"Financing Low-Income Communities is a most timely examination of the most critical financial services issues of our day by leading scholars and activists. In exploring the behavior of individuals and their families, the practices of financial institutions, and the policies of regulatory and legislative bodies it maps out directions for steering investment to traditionally underserved communities."
-Gregory D. Squires, George Washington University

"Financing Low-Income Communities is necessary reading for public and private sector leaders addressing the challenges of bringing financial services and capital to poor communities. Leading experts provide critical insights into ways institutions can best serve low income communities, key metrics for evaluating community development programs and policy reforms to overcome the financial exclusion of marginalized neighborhoods."
-Susan M. Wachter, University of Pennsylvania

Access to capital and financial services is crucial for healthy communities.  However, many impoverished individuals and neighborhoods are routinely ignored by mainstream financial institutions.  This neglect led to the creation of community development financial institutions (CDFIs), which provide low-income communities with financial services and act as a conduit to conventional financial organizations and capital markets. Edited by Julia Sass Rubin, Financing Low-Income Communities brings together leading experts in the field to assess what we know about the challenges of bringing financial services and capital to poor communities, map out future lines of research, and propose policy reforms to make these efforts more effective.

The contributors to Financing Low-Income Communities distill research on key topics related to community development finance. Daniel Schneider and Peter Tufano examine the obstacles that make saving and asset accumulation difficult for low-income households—such as the fact that tens of millions of low-income and minority adults don’t have a bank account—and consider solutions, like making it easier for low-wage workers to enroll in 401(K) plans. Jeanne Hogarth, Jane Kolodinksy, and Marianne Hilgert review evidence showing that community-based financial education programs can be effective in changing families’ saving and budgeting patterns.  Lisa Servon proposes strategies for addressing the challenges facing the microenterprise field in the United States.  Julia Sass Rubin discusses ways community loan and venture capital funds have adapted in response to the decreased availability of funding, and considers potential sources of new capital, such as state governments and public pension funds.  Marva Williams explores the evolution and recent performance of community development banks and credit unions.  Kathleen Engel and Patricia McCoy document the proliferation of predatory lenders, who market loans at onerous interest rates to financially vulnerable families and the devastating effects of such lending on communities—from increased crime to falling home values and lower tax revenues. Rachel Bratt reviews the policies and programs used to make rental and owned housing financially accessible.  Rob Hollister proposes a framework for evaluating the contributions of community development financial institutions.

Despite the many accomplishments of CDFIs over the last four decades, changing political and economic conditions make it imperative that they adapt in order to survive.  Financing Low-Income Communities charts out new directions for public and private organizations which aim to end the financial exclusion of marginalized neighborhoods.

JULIA SASS RUBIN is assistant professor at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University.

CONTRIBUTORS: Julia Sass Rubin, Rachel G. Bratt, Kathleen C. Engel, Marianne A. Hilgert, Jeanne M. Hogarth, Robinson Hollister, Jane Kolodinsky, Patricia A. McCoy, Daniel Schneider, Lisa Servon, Peter Tufano, and Marva E. Williams.

"One of the year's best books on Puerto Rico." —El Nuevo Dia, San Juan

"[The authors] are highly regarded labor economists who have written extensively and intelligently in the past, and again in this volume, on Puerto Rican migration and labor markets... There isabundant statistical data and careful analysis, some of which challenges the conventional wisdom. Highly recommended." —Choice

Island Paradox is the first comprehensive, census-based portrait of social and economic life in Puerto Rico. During its nearly fiftyyears as a U.S. commonwealth, the relationship between Puerto Rico's small, developing economy and the vastly larger, more industrialized United States has triggered profound changes in the island's industry and labor force. Puerto Rico has been deeply affected by the constant flow of its people to and from the mainland, and by the influx of immigrant workers from other nations. Distinguished economists Francisco Rivera-Batiz and Carlos Santiago provide the latest data on the socioeconomic status of Puerto Rico today, and examine current conditions within the context of the major trends of the past two decades.

Island Paradox describes many improvements in Puerto Rico's standard of living, including rising per-capita income, longer life expectancies, greater educational attainment, and increased job prospects for women. But it also discusses the devastating surge in unemployment. Rapid urbanization and a vanishing agricultural sector have led to severe inequality, as family income has become increasingly dependent on education and geographic location. Although Puerto Rico's close ties to the United States were the major source of the island's economic growth prior to 1970, they have also been at the root of recent hardships. Puerto Rico's trade andbusiness transactions remain predominantly with the United States, but changes in federal tax, social, and budgetary policies, along with international agreements such as NAFTA, now threaten to alter the economic ties between the island and the mainland.

Island Paradox reveals the social and family changes that have occurred among Puerto Ricans on the island and the mainland. The significant decline in the island's population growth is traced in part to women's increased pursuit of educational and employment opportunities before marrying. More children are being raised by singleparents, but this stems from a higher divorce rate and not a rise in teenage pregnancy. The widespread circular migration to and from the United States has had strong repercussions for the island's labor markets and social balance, leading to concerns about an island brain drain. The Puerto Rican population in the United States hasbecome increasingly diverse, less regionally concentrated and not, as some have claimed, in danger of becoming an underclass.

Within a single generation Puerto Rico has experienced social and economic shifts of an unprecedented magnitude. Island Paradox charts Puerto Rico's economic fortunes, summarizes the major demographic trends, and identifies the issues that will have the strongest bearings on Puerto Rico's prospects for a successful future.

FRANCISCO L. RIVERA-BATIZ is director of the Program in Economic Policy Management and associate professor in the Economics Department and the Latino Studies Program at Columbia University. He is also associate professor of international studies at Teachers College, Columbia University.

CARLOS E. SANTIAGO is professor in the Department of Latin American and Caribbean Studies and in the Department of Economics and associate vice president for academic affairs at the State University of New York, Albany.
 

A Volume in the RSF Census Series

"Though economists claim that dollar bills will not be left 'lying in the street,' the profits from sharply focused exchange between sociologists and economists are rarely taken. This sparkling volume is a welcome exception. Prominent practitioners of both arts present important work on networks and markets, and critique one another in concise and fruitful ways. An invaluable resource for those who follow these exciting new developments in social theory."
- MARK GRANOVETTER, Stanford University

"A pioneering collaboration between economists and sociologists. The contributors compete and cooperate with each other, combining the best traditions of the two fields, to elucidate the organization of industrial economies in East Asia, fish markets in Marseille, banking in renaissance Florence, ethnic business networks in New York, and much else."
- DANI RODRIK, Harvard University

"After a century of separation, economics and other social sciences are reestablishing mutually beneficial links. These studies of the interaction between social networks and markets are an excellent case in point. Here, a dozen sociologists and economists bring together their skills in case studies and theoretical modeling to create a rich and fascinating collection that will inspire much further research."
-AVINASH K. DIXIT, Princeton University

Networks and Markets argues that economists' knowledge of markets and sociologists' rich understanding of networks can and should be combined. Together they can help us achieve a more coherent view of economic life, where transactions follow both the logic of economic incentives and the established channels of personal relationships.

Market exchange is impersonal, episodic, and carried out at arm's length. All that matters is how much the seller is asking, and how much the buyer is offering. An economic network, by contrast, is based upon more personalized and enduring relationships between people tied together by more than just price. Networks and Markets focuses on how the two concepts relate to each other: Are social networks an essential precondition for successful markets, or do networks arise naturally out of markets, as faceless traders build reputations and gain confidence in each other?

The book includes contributions by both sociologists and economists, applying the concepts of markets and networks to concrete empirical phenomena. Among the topics analyzed, the book explains how, in Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan, firms combine into tightly-knit business blocs, how wholesalers in a Marseille fish market earn the loyalty of customers, and how ethnic retailers in the U.S. share valuable market information with other shopkeepers from their ethnic group. A response to each chapter discusses the issue from the standpoint of the other discipline. Sociologists are challenged to go beyond small-scale economic exchange and to integrate their concept of networks into a broader understanding of the economic system as a whole, while economists are challenged to consider the economic implications of network ties, which can be strong or weak, unconditional or highly contingent.

This book proves that both economics and sociology provide stronger insights when they study markets and networks as parallel forms of exchange. But it also clarifies the healthy division of labor that remains between the two disciplines. Sociologists are adept at showing how markets are framed by social institutions; economists specialize in explaining how markets perform, taking the social context as a given. Networks and Markets showcases what each discipline does best and reveals where each discipline would do better by borrowing from the other.

JAMES E. RAUCH is professor of economics at the University of California, San Diego.

ALESSANDRA CASELLA is professor of economics at Columbia University.

CONTRIBUTORS: Ronald. S Burt, Gregory Basharov, Robert C. Feenstra, Neil Fligstein, Avner Greif, Gary C. Hamilton, Deng-Shing Huang, Alan Kirman, John F. Padgett, Rebeca Raijman, Joel Sobel, Marta Tienda.

"In an instance of supreme irony, economists and sociologists studying networks have traditionally conducted their researches in largely unconnected components, each with its own questions, methods, and citation clusters. The Missing Links indeed provides the missing links between the two literatures. In the jargon of the subject, it bridges a structural hole. Much intellectual traffic will flow across this bridge in the future."
-AVINASH DIXIT, John J. F. Sherrerd '52 University Professor of Economics, Princeton University

"The contemporary study of social networks represents one of the most exciting endeavors in social science and constitutes a remarkable integration of ideas from economics and sociology. The Missing Links brings together many of the most important thinkers on social networks to produce a valuable overview of the state of the field. This book will be of great value to students as well as researchers. Editor James Rauch, who has made a number of seminal contributions to social network research, deserves congratulations for assembling such a fine collection of essays."
-STEVEN N. DURLAUF, Kenneth J. Arrow Professor of Economics, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Half of all workers are hired through personal referrals, and networks of social connections channel the flows of capital, technology, and international trade. Sociologists and economists alike recognize that economic exchange is shaped by social networks, which propagate information and facilitate trust, but each discipline brings a distinct theoretical perspective to the study of networks. Sociologists have focused on how networks shape individual behavior, economists on how individual choices shape networks. The Missing Links is a bold effort by an interdisciplinary group of scholars to synthesize sociological and economic theories of how economic networks emerge and evolve.

Interweaving sophisticated theoretical models and concrete case studies, The Missing Links is both an introduction to the study of economic networks and a catalyst for further research. Economists Rachel Kranton and Deborah Minehart illustrate their field’s approach to modeling network formation, showing how manufacturers form networks of suppliers in ways that maximize profits. Exemplifying the sociological approach, Ronald Burt analyzes patterns of cooperation and peer evaluations among colleagues at a financial organization. He finds that dense connections of shared acquaintances lead to more stable reputations.  In the latter half of the book, contributors combine the insights of sociology and economics to explore a series of case studies. Ray Reagans, Ezra Zuckerman, and Bill McEvily investigate an R & D firm in which employees participate in overlapping collaborative teams, allowing the authors to disentangle the effects of network structure and individual human capital on team performance. Kaivan Munshi and Mark Rosenzweig examine how economic development and rising inequality in India are reshaping caste-based networks of mutual insurance and job referrals. Their study shows that people’s economic decisions today are shaped both by the legacy of the caste hierarchies and by the particular incentives and constraints that each individual faces in an evolving labor market.

Economic globalization is forging new connections between people in distant corners of the world, while unsettling long-standing social relations. Anyone interested in understanding the opportunities and challenges of this era of rapid change will find a highly informative guide in The Missing Links.

JAMES E. RAUCH is professor of economics at the University of California, San Diego, and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

CONTRIBUTORS: Ronald S. Burt, Gregory Besharov, Robert C. Feenstra, Neil Fligstein, Avner Greif, Gary G. Hamilton, Deng-Shing Huang, Alan Kirman, John F. Padgett, Rebeca Raijman, Joel Sobel, Marta Tienda.

This book offers a systematic study of those individuals who derive their livelihood and professional satisfactions from foundation employment above a clerical level. Replies to questionnaires addressed to foundations and to foundation staff, supplemented by other research, enabled the authors to secure a wealth of data, not previously available, concerning such staff personnel. The data relates to their origin, education or training, professional or occupational background, personal qualities, recruitment for foundation service, job specialization in foundations and in-service and on-the-job training, salary levels, retirement, fringe benefits and perquisites of various kinds. These data are systematically analyzed according to the employing foundation's asset size, program, founding auspices, staff size, geographical location, and other variables. The comprehensiveness of the data also makes possible a census of full-time and part-time staff employed by all foundations and better reveals the rather distorted pattern of the distribution of that staff among the employing foundations.

A feature of the study is a chapter that tabulates and analyzes the comments on foundation employment of some 420 foundation executives—on their satisfactions, dissatisfactions, and frustrations and on how foundation employment might be made more attractive. The pros and cons of the related issue of increased professionalization of foundation service is considered in the light of these comments and from the standpoint, also, of the current philanthropic policies of different kinds of foundations. The probable long-term effect on foundation service of certain provisions of the Tax Reform Act of 1969 is also examined.

ARNOLD J. ZURCHER was formerly Executive Director of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and is Professor of Politics at New York University.

JANE DUSTAN is Associate for Program Development of the Association for the Aid of Crippled Children.

"We need you, Madame Curie. Please don't leave. This is a compelling study of why women leave science. It links qualitative and quantitative evidence in a way that is social science at its best. It explains why women exit science more than men and suggests ways to remedy this problem. Leaving Science should be read by everyone concerned with maintaining a healthy U.S. science work force, from the science advisor to the president to members of for the American Association for the Advancement of Science."
-RICHARD B. FREEMAN, Herbert Ascherman Chair in Economics, Harvard University

"Leaving Science provides an exceedingly thorough examination of factors leading individuals to exit science. It is a must read for anyone concerned with the United States' capacity to continue to innovate, especially given recent events that discourage the entrance of foreign- born and foreign-trained into U.S. science. Anne Preston's focus on retention reminds the reader that the pipeline in is only half of the story. A vibrant scientific workforce depends on retaining those already trained, as well as recruiting new talent to science. Preston's analysis of factors leading to exit is well crafted. The combination of recounting interview data with a careful analysis of survey data provides a rich framework for exploring why individuals leave science and how exit factors vary by gender."
-PAULA STEPHAN, professor of economics, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University

"Leaving Science is fascinating. It is rich social science, augmenting statistical analysis with interviews and individual work histories and applying these insights to policy. I hope that it will be widely read by academic administrators and research managers, as well as by experts on the scientific and engineering workforce. The picture it presents of why men and women leave science is highly nuanced, but there are lessons to be learned by everyone involved in managing and living scientific careers."
-CHARLOTTE KUH, deputy executive director, Policy and Global Affairs Division, The National Academies

The past thirty years have witnessed a dramatic decline in the number of U.S. students pursuing advanced degrees in science and an equally dramatic increase in the number of professionals leaving scientific careers. Leaving Science provides the first significant examination of this worrisome new trend. Economist Anne E. Preston examines a wide range of important questions: Why do professionals who have invested extensive time and money on a rigorous scientific education leave the field? Where do these scientists go and what do they do? What policies might aid in retaining and improving the quality of life for science personnel?

Based on data from a large national survey of nearly 1,700 people who received university degrees in the natural sciences or engineering between 1965 and 1990 and a subsequent in-depth follow-up survey, Leaving Science provides a comprehensive portrait of the career trajectories of men and women who have earned science degrees. Alarmingly, by the end of the follow-up survey, only 51 percent of the original respondents were still working in science. During this time, federal funding for scientific research decreased dramatically relative to private funding. Consequently, the direction of scientific research has increasingly been dictated by market forces, and many scientists have left academic research for income and opportunity in business and industry. Preston identifies the main reasons for people leaving scientific careers as dissatisfaction with compensation and career advancement, difficulties balancing family and career responsibilities, and changing professional interests. Highlighting the difference between male and female exit patterns, Preston shows that most men left because they found scientific salaries low relative to perceived alternatives in other fields, while most women left scientific careers in response to feelings of alienation due to lack of career guidance, difficulty relating to their work, and insufficient time for their family obligations.

Leaving Science contains a unique blend of rigorous statistical analysis with voices of individual scientists, ensuring a rich and detailed understanding of an issue with profound consequences for the nation's future. A better understanding of why professionals leave science can help lead to changes in scientific education and occupations and make the scientific workplace more attractive and hospitable to career men and women.

ANNE E. PRESTON is associate professor of economics at Haverford College, Pennsylvania.

"Harriet Presser has provided us with an extraordinary, well-written, important piece of research that greatly reduces our ignorance about shiftwork. The book deserves a wide audience among academics and policy-makers."
-INDUSTRIAL AND LABOR RELATIONS REVIEW

"An impressive analysis of the impact of working time on the American family. Working in a 24/7 Economy should be required reading for everyone engaged in work scheduling policy, practice, or research!"
-DONALD I. TEPAS, PROFESSOR EMERITUS, UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT AND SECRETARY, SHIFTWORK COMMITTEE, INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION ON OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH

"Noted demographer Harriet Presser has spent much of the last two decades investigating the implications of shift work for families. Her masterful synthesis of the literature reveals that nonstandard hours are not only here to stay, but also that they pose important, often unrecognized challenges for families, especially for couples and single parents raising young children. This book is must reading, not only for scholars who are interested specifically in the work-family interface but for researchers in the fields of business and management, work and occupations, labor economics, industrial-organizational psychology, family studies, and child development. Presser's conclusions provide important insights not only for the research community, but for corporate management, policy makers, and community leaders. An important take-home message is that we can no longer ignore the timing of work hours and how those hours dovetail-or wreak havoc-with family life."
-NAN CROUTER, PROFESSOR OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR WORK AND FAMILY RESEARCH, PENN STATE UNIVERSITY

"Few studies have even touched on this topic, yet Harriet Presser covers it thoroughly, deliberately, and even-handedly. In other words, while some explorers are content to proclaim that they have discovered new land, Presser sends back a surprisingly complete map, filled with the main rivers, mountains, plains, and more than a few hidden valleys. I cannot remember the last time I read a book containing so much thoroughly original work. This is the place to learn about night, evening, and weekend work and how it impacts family life."
-JERRY A. JACOBS, MERRIAM TERM PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

"The complicated and difficult lives of workers forced to work at times others sleep, play, and have normal family time together is documented in this meticulous study. Harriet Presser describes the severe problems of broken marriages and problematic child care arrangements that two-fifths of our work force confronts in an economy in which there are no time boundaries. This is must reading for scholars, policy-makers, and the public."
-CYNTHIA FUCHS EPSTEIN, DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR, GRADUATE CENTER, CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK

An economy that operates 24/7—as ours now does—imposes extraordinary burdens on workers. Two-fifths of all employed Americans work mostly during evenings, nights, weekends, or on rotating shifts outside the traditional 9-to-5 work day. The pervasiveness of nonstandard work schedules has become a significant social phenomenon, with important implications for the health and well-being of workers and their families. In Working in a 24/7 Economy, Harriet Presser looks at the effects of nonstandard work schedules on family functioning and shows how these schedules disrupt marriages and force families to cobble together complex child-care arrangements that should concern us all.

The number of hours Americans work has received ample attention, but the issue of which hours—or days—Americans work has received much less scrutiny. Working in a 24/7 Economy provides a comprehensive overview of who works nonstandard schedules and why. Presser argues that the growth in women's employment, technological change, and other demographic changes over the past thirty years gave rise to the growing demand for late-shift and weekend employment in the service sector. She also demonstrates that most people who work these hours do so primarily because it is a job requirement, rather than a choice based on personal considerations. Presser shows that the consequences of working nonstandard schedules often differ for men and women since housework and child-rearing remain assigned primarily to women even when both spouses are employed. As with many other social problems, the burden of these schedules disproportionately affects the working poor, reflecting their lack of options in the workplace and adding to their disadvantage. Presser also documents how such work arrangements have created a new rhythm of daily life within many American families, including those with two earners and absent fathers. With spouses often not at home together in the evenings or nights, and parents often not at home with their children at such times, the relatively new concept of "home-time" has emerged as primary concern for families across the nation.

Employing a wealth of empirical data, Working in a 24/7 Economy shows that nonstandard work schedules are both highly prevalent among American families and generate a level of complexity in family functioning that demands greater public attention. Presser makes a convincing case for expanded research and meaningful policy initiatives to address this growing social phenomenon.

HARRIET B. PRESSER is Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Maryland.

The Association of the Bar of the City of New York (ABCNY) is no ordinary professional organization. Formed in 1870 and housed in an imposing mid-town edifice, it was the first modern bar association, nationally known for its eminent membership, its reformist stance—and its intimidating selectivity. During much of its history, the ABCNY appeared to be more an upper-class, WASP legal club than an open, collegial association.

How did such an organization fare in the face of post-war pressures for inclusiveness? From Patrician to Professional Elite offers a rare view of the internal dynamics of an institution adapting to a changed environment. The ABCNY maintained its elite identity by adopting a meritocratic organizational model in place of a class-based model. By shedding its overt exclusivity, the ABCNY asserted its legitimacy; by embracing an "open elite" or meritocratic model, the associate retained its high standing and relative homogeneity. In fact, the ABCNY today is dominated by the same functional group of lawyers as before, the corporate legal elite.

This fascinating study of organizational change prompts a re-examination of fundamental questions about the class basis of modern professionalism and the dominance of elites within professions, in addition to illuminating the larger question of the role of elite institutions in democratic societies.

MICHAEL J. POWELL is associate professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

"Portes suggests that immigration constitutes an especially appropriate Mertonian 'strategic research site' for economic sociology in that it provides very good opportunities for investigating the embeddedness of economic relationships in social situations....the contributors expand the conventional domain of economic sociology quite literally in both time and space."—Contemporary Sociology

"Alejandro Portes and his splendid band of collaborators make clear that the causes, processes, and consequences of migration vary dramatically from group to group, that a group's history makes a profound difference to its fate in the American economy. They have produced a sinewy book, a book worth arguing with."—Charles Tilly, Columbia University

The Economic Sociology of Immigration forges a dynamic link between the theoretical innovations of economic sociology with the latest empirical findings from immigration research, an area of critical concern as the problems of ethnic poverty and inequality become increasingly profound. Alejandro Portes' lucid overview of sociological approaches to economic phenomena provides the framework for six thoughtful, wide-ranging investigations into ethnic and immigrant labor networks and social resources, entrepreneurship, and cultural assimilation. Mark Granovetter illustrates how small businesses built on the bonds of ethnicity and kinship can, under certain conditions, flourish remarkably well. Bryan R. Roberts demonstrates how immigrant groups' expectations of the duration of their stay influence their propensity toward entrepreneurship. Ivan Light and Carolyn Rosenstein chart how specific metropolitan environments have stimulated or impeded entrepreneurial ventures in five ethnic populations. Saskia Sassen provides a revealing analysis of the unexpectedly flexible and vital labor market networks maintained between immigrants and their native countries, while M. Patricia Fernandez Kelly looks specifically at the black inner city to examine how insular cultural values hinder the acquisition of skills and jobs outside the neighborhood. Alejandro Portes also depicts the difference between the attitudes of American-born youths and those of recent immigrants and its effect on the economic success of immigrant children.

ALEJANDRO PORTES is professor of sociology at Princeton University and faculty associate of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public Affairs.

CONTRIBUTORS: Mark Granovetter, M. Patricia Fernández Kelly, Ivan Light, Alejandro Portes, Bryan R. Roberts, Carolyn Rosenstein, and Saskia Sassen.

"[N]ot only makes interesting reading, but also brings some clarifying historical insights to the immigration debate."
-Industrial and Labor Relations Review

"Will today's Mexican immigrants and their children follow the paths of the Italians and Poles of a century ago in moving up the economic ladder? Joel Perlmann's carefully drawn analysis tackles this much-debated question through a detailed and thoughtfully argued comparison of the Mexican second generation of today and the European second generation of the past. This insightful and stimulating book under scores the great value of past-present comparisons for understanding the trajectories of contemporary immigrants and their children."
-NANCY FONER, Hunter College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York 

"Italians Then, Mexicans Now is essential reading for anyone who hopes to make sense of the prospects of today's immigrants and their children, especially for groups like the Mexicans that are trapped in low-wage labor."
-RICHARD ALBA, Distinguished Professor, State University of New York, Albany

According to the American dream, hard work and a good education can lift people from poverty to success in the "land of opportunity." The unskilled immigrants who came to the United States from southern, central, and eastern Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries largely realized that vision. Within a few generations, their descendants rose to the middle class and beyond. But can today’s unskilled immigrant arrivals—especially Mexicans, the nation's most numerous immigrant group—expect to achieve the same for their descendants? Social scientists disagree on this question, basing their arguments primarily on how well contemporary arrivals are faring. In Italians Then, Mexicans Now, Joel Perlmann uses the latest immigration data as well as 100 years of historical census data to compare the progress of unskilled immigrants and their American-born children both then and now.

The crucial difference between the immigrant experience a hundred years ago and today is that relatively well-paid jobs were plentiful for workers with little education a hundred years ago, while today's immigrants arrive in an increasingly unequal America. Perlmann finds that while this change over time is real, its impact has not been as strong as many scholars have argued. In particular, these changes have not been great enough to force today’s Mexican second generation into an inner-city "underclass." Perlmann emphasizes that high school dropout rates among second-generation Mexicans are alarmingly high, and are likely to have a strong impact on the group’s well-being. Yet despite their high dropout rates, Mexican Americans earn at least as much as African Americans, and they fare better on social measures such as unwed childbearing and incarceration, which often lead to economic hardship. Perlmann concludes that inter-generational progress, though likely to be slower than it was for the European immigrants a century ago, is a reality, and could be enhanced if policy interventions are taken to boost high school graduation rates for Mexican children.

Rich with historical data, Italians Then, Mexicans Now persuasively argues that today’s Mexican immigrants are making slow but steady socio-economic progress and may one day reach parity with earlier immigrant groups who moved up into the heart of the American middle class.

JOEL PERLMANN is senior scholar at the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College and the Levy Institute Research Professor at the college.

Copublished with the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College