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Ethnicity, Immigration, and Wealth Fluctuations in the United States
Author(s) -
Gorbachev Olga,
O'Flaherty Brendan,
Sethi Rajiv
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
review of income and wealth
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.024
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1475-4991
pISSN - 0034-6586
DOI - 10.1111/roiw.12317
Subject(s) - bust , immigration , boom , ethnic group , fell , economics , recession , demographic economics , great recession , labour economics , development economics , monetary economics , keynesian economics , political science , geography , cartography , environmental engineering , law , engineering
Wealth in the United States rose and fell precipitously during the first decade of this century for all major ethnic groups, but the fluctuations in Hispanic wealth were especially extreme. We show that household characteristics and location can account for the Hispanic experience during the boom but not the bust. We argue that the sudden collapse in credit availability to undocumented immigrants at the start of the recession led, through a contraction in demand for the homes of natural sellers in this market, to a loss in wealth far greater than could be predicted based on household characteristics and location alone.