A range of studies has demonstrated that social and economic factors are important determinants of health. Yet, despite having higher poverty rates, less education, and worse access to health care, many Hispanics living in the United States today have health outcomes that are equal to, or better than, those of non-Hispanic whites. This epidemiological paradox (also known as the Hispanic health paradox) seemingly varies between generations.

The 1996 federal welfare reform law had a significant impact on immigrants. It drastically scaled back immigrants’ eligibility for public benefits. Whereas legal immigrants were generally eligible for public assistance on more or less the same terms as citizens before 1996, they are now barred from receiving federally financed cash assistance for the first five years that they are in the United States.

As the foreign-born share of the U.S. population grows, and immigrants increasingly settle in non-traditional areas, how will immigrants’ residential settlement patterns shape their social, economic, and civic integration, and the integration of their children? To address this question, economist Marcia Meyers and geographer Mark Ellis organized a conference on “Local Contexts and the Prospects of the Second Generation” in October of 2006.

While the college attendance rate of children from the highest income families has risen to nearly 90 percent, attendance rates for children from low-income families hovers around 50 percent. Whereas the focus of financial aid has historically been on easing the tuition burden for low-income families that might not otherwise be able to afford college, the movement towards merit-based aid is attracting more students from middle- and high-income families while apparently crowding out students from low-income families.

Low-income workers not only tend to work in more hazardous, physically intensive jobs than their higher-income counterparts, but they also must deal with the social stresses of making ends meet and living in impoverished environments. Not surprisingly, their life expectancies are shorter than those of higher earners. But which factors contribute most to this bleak outcome for blue-collar workers: socioeconomic stresses or workplace woes?

America’s founders were famously fearful that unchecked democracy would lead to the expropriation of property from the wealthy few by the more numerous poor. Yet, as income inequality has inched steadily upwards over the last 30 years, the public policy response has not been greater distribution, but oftentimes less. Taxes on investment income and inheritance have fallen, while the payroll tax has been raised.

College graduates currently earn almost twice as much on average as those with a high school diploma or less. Obtaining a bachelor’s degree has become an increasingly important step for those seeking economic and social advancement, but evidence indicates that college is no longer within reach for many low-income Americans. With support from the Foundation, Stacy Dickert-Conlin and Ross Rubenstein of Syracuse University will host a conference in September 2005 exploring the reasons why income-related gaps in higher education access and completion remain large and may be expanding.