Does the "Melting Pot" Still Melt? Internet and Immigrants’ Integration

Talk by Alexander Yarkin (University of California, Davis, and LISER) as part of the Research Seminar Series of the IOS Economics Department.

The global spread of the Internet and the rising salience of immigration are two of the biggest trends of the last decades. And yet, the effects of new digital technologies on immigrants - their social integration, spatial segregation, and economic outcomes - remain unknown. This paper addresses this gap: it shows how home-country Internet expansion affects immigrants’ socio-economic integration in the US. Using DID and event-study methods, I find that home-country Internet expansion lowers immigrants’ linguistic proficiency, naturalization rates, and economic integration. The effect is driven by younger and less educated immigrants. However, home-country Internet also decreases spatial and occupational segregation, and increases subjective well-being of immigrants. The time use data suggests that the Internet changing immigrants’ networking is part of the story. I also show the role of return intentions and Facebook usage, among other factors. These findings align with a Roy model of migration, augmented with a choice between host- vs. home-country ties. Overall, this paper shows how digital technologies transform the immigration, diversity, and social cohesion nexus.