Title: Wealth of recent immigrants to the USA

Authors: Suhas L. Ketkar; Manoj K. Dora

Addresses: Department of Economics, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA. ' Department of Agricultural Economics, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

Abstract: Developing countries| ability to issue diaspora bonds depends upon the wealth of their diaspora. We use the New Immigrants Survey data to determine the wealth accumulation and assets diversification of recent immigrants to the USA from different regions of the world. Our quantile (median) regressions on wealth levels reveal that the immigrant household head|s years of US residence, age, and number of years of schooling exert statistically significant positive impact on the household|s wealth. Furthermore, our Poisson regression results on asset diversification indicate that immigrants from SSA and LA are less risk averse than those from Asia.

Keywords: diaspora bonds; diasporas; personal wealth; recent immigrants; United States; USA; asset diversification; quintile regression; developing countries; New Immigrants Survey; statistical data; immigration; wealth accumulation; global regions; median regression; wealth levels; immigrant households; household heads; residence years; schooling; education; positive impacts; household wealth; Poisson regression; Sub-Saharan Africa; Asia; Latin America; risk averseness; economic policies; emerging economies; international development.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEPEE.2011.043308

International Journal of Economic Policy in Emerging Economies, 2011 Vol.4 No.4, pp.330 - 344

Published online: 11 Jan 2015 *

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