Age at Arrival, English Proficiency, and Social Assimilation Among US Immigrants
利用2000年人口普查数据，研究美国移民的英语熟练度是否受语言习得关键期影响，并分析英语能力对婚姻、生育和居住地选择等社会同化指标的影响。
Are U.S. immigrants' English proficiency and social outcomes the result of their cultural preferences, or of more fundamental constraints? Using 2000 Census microdata, we relate immigrants' English proficiency, marriage, fertility and residential location variables to their age at arrival in the U.S., and in particular whether that age fell within the "critical period" of language acquisition. We interpret the differences between younger and older arrivers as effects of English-language skills and construct an instrumental variable for English-language skills. Two-stage-least-squares estimates suggest that English proficiency increases the likelihood of divorce and intermarriage. It decreases fertility and, for some, ethnic enclave residence..