Intermarriage and the economic success of immigrants

Availability and education

People usually have a preference for marrying somebody with a comparable bundle of “resources.” This implies not that partners have to match in each dimension, such as beauty or wealth, but that less of one factor should be “compensated” for by more of another, so that the value of the bundle is comparable. Many people prefer to marry somebody in their own ethnic group and with a similar level of education [2], so matching on both ethnicity and education is considered important. But there are search costs related to the availability of potential spouses with these characteristics. So, even if everybody has the same preferences, some will be willing to exchange similarities in ethnicity for similarities in education if there is too little supply of potential partners with the same ethnic background [3].

One important determinant for interethnic marriage is the ethnic gender ratio—the share of people of the opposing sex in the same ethnic group. The higher the availability of potential partners within the own-ethnic group, the less likely intermarriage becomes. Accordingly, intermarriage is more likely if the group-specific gender ratio is less even—if there is a shortage of female co-ethnics, for instance—and if the size of the own-ethnic group is small. In reverse, the greater the availability ratio and the larger the size of the own-ethnic group, the less likely intermarriage becomes [4]. Living in ethnic enclaves and in regions with many co-ethnics thus reduces the probability of intermarriage.

Another crucial determinant of intermarriage is education. Intermarried immigrants are often a positively selected subgroup for education [5]. On average, immigrants are less educated than natives, at least in the US and in several European countries. Within this group, it is the better educated immigrants—the ones whose education levels differ significantly from (exceed) that of their own-ethnic peers—who live outside ethnic communities and enclaves. Better educated immigrants are thus more likely to meet and socialize with people from outside their own ethnic group, especially with natives.

Better educated immigrants are also more likely to attend better schools, go to university, and work in better paid jobs. They are thus more likely to meet (and date) natives at university and in the workplace. In this sense, going to college is an “eye-opening experience” that may diminish immigrants’ preferences for marrying co-ethnics or within their own racial group [5]. Better educated immigrants are more likely to find a partner with a similar education level than with the same ethnic background—as a study of second-generation immigrants in the US shows [3]. Thus, “positive assortative matching by education” (having a spouse with a very similar education level) is more prominent among intermarried immigrants than for nonintermarried immigrants.

This kind of assortative matching is also more pronounced among those who immigrated at a young age than those who immigrated as teenagers. And there are significant differences in assortative matching among cultural groups. Similar education seems to play only a minor role for the marriage decisions of people of Asian origin while it is very important for white Americans and not so much for those of Hispanic origin [6].

Better education often goes hand in hand with better host-country language abilities [3], facilitating communication with natives. Socializing becomes easier the closer the home and host country language are. Empirical evidence for the US shows that linguistic distance of the immigrant’s mother tongue from English is “a negative predictor of intermarriage for immigrants” [3]. Results are similar for Belgium and the Netherlands. So, the greater the linguistic distance, the less likely intermarriage becomes.

Better education may also increase the ability to adapt to new social environments and to different customs and norms, making it easier (and hence more likely) to live with someone from a different ethnic group, especially with a native. But the empirical support for this “adaptability effect” on intermarriage is mixed [4].

Other factors determining intermarriage

Intermarriage is more likely the longer the immigrant has lived in the host country. Accordingly, immigrants who immigrated at a young age and those who have lived in the host country for a long time are more likely to intermarry than those who immigrated as adults and arrived only recently [3]. This can be explained by the time it takes to accumulate host-country-specific human capital (building up knowledge about specific customs, norms, and habits, for instance) and to acquire sufficient language abilities and skills. At the same time, immigrants may lose some of their ethnic-specific human capital over time [3]. In line with this, second-generation immigrants are more likely to intermarry than first-generation immigrants [1].

However, the intermarriage rates for second-generation immigrants differ significantly by ethnic group. And also for first-generation immigrants there are significant differences in the likelihood of intermarriage. According to a study looking at (first- and second-generation) immigrants in Germany, the share of Turkish immigrants who are intermarried is very small compared with immigrants from Spain, for instance. Differences are similar for specific ethnic groups in the US, where people of Hispanic origin are among the most likely to marry white Americans and African Americans are less likely. These ethnic differences in intermarriage patterns persist over time and can be attributed to differences in ethnic group size, educational attainment, preferences, and third-party interference.

Cultural distance and the intervention of third parties can reduce the likelihood of intermarriage [2]. If cultural differences are large—say, in relation to religion or gender roles—the likelihood of intermarriage declines. Parents, other relatives, and friends might be critical of ethnically mixed relationships and thus lower the probability of intermarriage. This kind of social pressure might increase the potential for conflict that already exists in culturally mixed partnerships, and is linked to a higher level of severe psychological stress [7]. While the higher social status of a native partner can make intermarriage preferable to marriage to a co-immigrant, the lower socio-economic status of an immigrant partner might increase stress for the native spouse. In line with this, Hispanic men seem to prefer intermarriage over co-ethnic marriage, while native wives in the US face higher levels of stress in interethnic relationships [7].

Intermarriage can also be associated with social stigma and skepticism, so that divorce rates are higher for intermarriages. In the US, divorce rates for marriages between white women and black men are higher than for marriages between white men and white women. This finding is supported by another study for the Netherlands showing that intermarriages that are heterogeneous in religion or in national origin are more likely to end in divorce than homogeneous marriages. The risk of divorce increases with the cultural difference between the two ethnic groups, as shown in a study on exogamy and union dissolution in Sweden. Accordingly, ethnically mixed marriages face a higher risk of divorce than ethnically endogamous marriages, and the risk of divorce increases with dissimilarity between the spouses.

Finally, immigrants may exhibit differences in the big five personality traits, which might explain differences in the likelihood of intermarriage. Descriptive statistics for Germany show that intermarried immigrants report being more open to new experiences and, for women, having higher values for extraversion. They also seem to feel less discriminated against, be less risk averse, and more interested in politics than nonintermarried immigrants. Additionally, intermarriage in the US is more frequent among people who report multiple ancestries and those who were married before [3]. This might indicate different states of mind and attitudes toward life and possibly toward love and marriage.

Theoretical links between intermarriage and economic success

Why should one expect positive economic impulses from intermarriage for immigrants? Because the native partner can improve the immigrant’s economic situation by:

• providing valuable knowledge about the local labor market and its institutions and explaining host-country-specific customs, norms, and habits that will be helpful in finding one’s way in the host-country labor market;

• providing useful contacts and access to better social networks that can lead to better job offers; even though research shows that ethnic networks are more efficient in providing jobs that match an immigrant’s qualifications [8];

• fostering language acquisition and communication skills that can help the immigrant socialize with native colleagues in the workplace and thus increase the immigrant’s prospects of getting and keeping a good job; and

• helping the immigrant spouse to gain citizenship and legal status, which in turn opens up new job opportunities, as in public services.

Intermarriage might also signal greater commitment to the host society, possibly improving the likelihood of employment since employers might expect the immigrant to stay in the country longer and to have a legal status that simplifies procedures for business trips.

Research from several countries shows that intermarried immigrants are indeed employed more often and earn on average more than nonintermarried immigrants. However, it is not always clear how causality runs, since all the factors mentioned above might be in play even before an immigrant meets and marries a native. They may even be a precondition for finding a native partner: As discussed, better education might be the driving factor for better language abilities, for better jobs, and, possibly through those channels, for finding a native partner. Empirical estimations try to account for this possibility, but it is not easy to judge whether the advantageous economic status of intermarried immigrants is influenced by the native spouse or is a precondition to finding that native partner.

A large share of (early) research is purely descriptive, showing mostly correlations. Detecting causality is more difficult since unobserved factors, omitted variables, and reverse causality may bias estimation results. Finding external factors that provide a framework of treatment and control is hard, so researchers have tried to tackle these difficulties by instrumenting endogenous variables or by using panel data and advanced estimation methodologies.

Intermarriage and earnings

Among the first to study the causal relationship between intermarriage and higher earnings is a study on immigrants in Australia [9]. The authors use a specific ethnic gender ratio and “the probability to marry within one’s own ethnic group” to account for endogeneity—this is related to the discussion above of the availability of partners in the relevant marriage market. Rather than differences in labor market qualification on arrival, an intermarriage premium indicates faster assimilation of intermarried immigrants. So, this finding supports the hypothesis that intermarried immigrants are more successful in the labor market thanks to their native partners.

The same set-up analyzed intermarriage for immigrants in France, finding again that intermarried immigrants earn significantly more (around 17%) than endogamously married immigrants. The intermarriage premium is even higher for those with better knowledge of the French language before migration.

But does this premium remain if one accounts for unobserved heterogeneity and selection into certain types of marriages? People who intermarry may possess certain characteristics that are beneficial not only in the marriage market but also in the labor market. So, the positive economic outcomes of intermarried immigrants might be due not to intermarriage but to these characteristics. Accordingly, other studies using US data [10] and German panel data [11] find that the intermarriage premium vanishes once selectivity and unobservable characteristics are taken into account. Similarly, a study in Sweden that looks at annual incomes, also using panel data, finds that intermarriage premiums most likely result from the positive selection of immigrants into this type of marriage [12].

Intermarriage and (self-)employment

Another economic outcome of general interest is employment. In this context, native partners may provide valuable contacts and access to social networks. A paper using US data shows that intermarriage indeed has a positive effect on the employment probability of immigrant men [8]. So, networks obtained through intermarriage are an important factor in explaining the relationship between intermarriage and better employment opportunities for immigrants.

Better access to local networks through intermarriage also plays a crucial (positive) role in self-employment. Another US study that analyzes the effect of intermarriage on the transition into and out of entrepreneurship finds that access to local networks obtained through intermarriage significantly influences business survival [13]. For male immigrants in the US, intermarriage reduces the likelihood of starting a business but increases the likelihood of survival for those who do start a new business [13].

The first part of this finding is, at first glance, contradictory. But there seems to be an asymmetric role of intermarriage in starting a new business and in having that business survive. Better access to local networks through intermarriage seems to increase the possibility of entering other forms of employment, such as paid employment, and thus reduces the likelihood of becoming an entrepreneur. But the same access to better local networks helps the immigrant entrepreneur to stay in business and be successful. So in the end, intermarried immigrants who start a new business are more likely to be successful in that business and less likely to exit entrepreneurship.