Immigrants and wealth attainment: migration, inequality, and integration

Abstract

ABSTRACT Wealth is an important measure of advantage and disadvantage, especially in a global context of wage stagnation, growing debt, and rising inequality. We see research on the wealth attainment of immigrants and their descendants as fundamental to understanding patterns of migration, stratification, and integration. The collection of papers in this volume link ethnic and migration studies to literatures on wealth inequality and demonstrate how individual-level characteristics, selection effects, global patterns of migration, and varied host-society contexts shape social and economic integration and the reproduction of inequalities in the U.S., Latin America, and China. This special issue underscores the necessity of placing wealth attainment at the centre of ethnic and migration studies, especially as population movements expand at a rapid pace and as income and wealth inequality widens across the globe.