In the 1970’s the process of political independence in Surinam fueled uncertainty and induced large migration waves. Within a short timespan 40 percent of the Surinamese population migrated to the Netherlands. This unique historic episode provides a rare opportunity for studying the relationship between migrant selection and assimilation. Using administrative data of three generations of migrants, we find that differences in migrant skills and age of arrival are strongly associated with their own long term outcomes, and also predict the outcomes of their children and grandchildren. The impact on the second and third generation is, however, much smaller, suggesting that initial differences fade out quite quickly in next generations.
Professor Anne Gielen is Professor in Economics at the Erasmus School of Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam, in the Netherlands. Before she has worked as Senior Research Associate at IZA (2009-2015) and as Postdoc in Maastricht (2007-2009). Anne received her M.Sc. (2003) and Ph.D. (2008) in Economics from Tilburg University.
Her main research interests are intergenerational mobility, applied microecono-metrics, labor and health, policy evaluation.