Description:
This paper studies the influence of pre-migration social background on the longterm economic assimilation of immigrants. I use unique French survey data to trace family histories over three generations, before and after migration. While many immigrants experience an occupational downgrading at migration, their children benefit from the high socio-economic status their family had in the origin country. As a result, characteristics of immigrant grandparents are more predictive of their grandchildren’s educational attainment than are characteristics of native grandparents