Why third-generation assimilation may stall: The role of second-generation union patterns

Department seminar with Jesper Fels Birkelund, Assistant Professor Tenure Track at the Department of Sociology.

The third generation represents a critical test of immigrant assimilation. As the generation most removed from the migration experience and with the strongest connection to the host society from birth, grandchildren of immigrants are often expected to approach socioeconomic parity.

However, progress across generations depends not only on increasing distance from migration, but also on the unions formed by previous generations. Using Danish administrative register data linking immigrants who arrived during the 1960s and 1970s to their children and grandchildren, this paper examines whether ethnic inequalities persist into the third generation and whether second-generation union patterns contribute to differences in educational outcomes.

I apply a prospective within-family design to compare second-generation parents with their third-generation children. To examine heterogeneity within the third generation by parental union type, I leverage exogenous variation from a policy reform that altered the likelihood of partnering with an immigrant spouse. The results show substantial educational progression from the second to the third generation. Remaining disadvantages among grandchildren of immigrants are largely explained by parental socioeconomic and human capital differences. However, outcomes are less favorable among children of second-generation immigrants who partner with first-generation immigrants, indicating that the prevalence of cross-generational unions slows the pace of educational convergence in the third generation.