Lingxin Hao

Lingxin Hao, associate professor of sociology at The Johns Hopkins University, will undertake a project on the impact of welfare on the social mobility of immigrant parents and children. The shift in countries of origin from Europe to Asia and Latin America has contributed to lower educational and skill levels among recent immigrants and a greater need for public assistance on their part. Yet, as part of welfare reform, the federal government has sharply reduced the public safety net for immigrants. Hao will study immigrants receiving public assistance (such as TANF, Medicaid, school lunch programs, and EITC) in order to uncover both how such assistance affects the first generation immigrant's social mobility, and how that in turn affects the mobility of the second generation. She will focus specifically on how the relationship between public assistance and private support impacts social mobility.

Working Papers:

• Welfare Reform and Teenage Pregnancy, Childbirth, and School Dropout
• Immigration and Wealth Inequality in the U.S.