Re-Assessing the Relationship between Migrant Kin Networks and Wages among Mexican Migrant Men

Gretchen Livingston, Princeton University

The conventional wisdom is that networks matter to economic outcomes for immigrants in the U.S. In reality, though, there have been only a handful of quantitative examinations of this relationship, most of which have relatively major methodological weaknesses which bring into question the validity of their findings. My research corrects for the past weaknesses, and further advances the research by applying fixed effects methods and using more nuanced model specifications. Results show that in the aggregate migrant kin networks have a minimal positive effect on migrant wages. However, disaggregating the data reveals that migrant kin networks do positively affect Mexican men’s wages in the U.S., but only for men in the lower half of the U.S. wage distribution.