GDI Webinar: Does the "Melting Pot" Still Melt? Internet and Immigrants' Integration

Dates:	20 March 2025
Times:	13:00 - 14:00
What is it:	Webinar
Organiser:	Global Development Institute
Who is it for:	University staff, External researchers, Adults, Alumni, Current University students, General public

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Speaker: Alexander Yarkin, Ph.D. in Economics at Brown University (2023), Post-doc at UC Davis (Global Migration Center) Chair: Isaac López-Moreno Flores, Development Economist and PhD Candidate, Global Development Institute

Abstract: 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.

This paper was awarded the Junior Research Prize in Immigration Economics by the Chair of the Paris School of Economics. The paper also won the Prize for the best research paper presented at the OECD Migration Conference in Paris.