title: Why does the health of Mexican immigrants deteriorate? New evidence from linked birth records.
abstract: This study uses a unique dataset linking the birth records of two generations of children born in California and Florida (1970-2009) to analyze the mechanisms behind the generational decline observed in birth outcomes of children of Mexican origin. Calibrating a simple model of intergenerational transmission of birth weight, I show that modest positive selection on health at the time of migration can account for the initial advantage in birth outcomes of second-generation Mexicans. Moreover, accounting for the socioeconomic differences between second-generation Mexicans and white natives and the observed intergenerational correlation in birth weight, the model predicts a greater deterioration than that observed in the data. Using a subset of siblings and holding constant grandmother quasi-fixed effects, I show that the persistence of healthier behaviors among second-generation Mexican mothers can explain more than half of the difference between the model prediction and the observed birth outcomes of third-generation Mexicans.
authors.affiliation: University of Pittsburgh, IZA, United States. Electronic address: osea.giuntella@pitt.edu.
authors.forename: Osea
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Giuntella
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001719:Birth Certificates; D001724:Birth Weight; D002140:California / Q000453:epidemiology; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005431:Florida / Q000453:epidemiology; D015438:Health Behavior / Q000208:ethnology; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017058:Mexican Americans / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015233:Models, Statistical; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Birth outcomes; Hispanic health paradox; Risky behaviors