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Postimmigration investments in Education: a Study of Immigrants in the Netherlands

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Demography

Abstract

We use a unique data source to examine postimmigration investments in education among four immigrant groups in the Netherlands. We derive hypotheses from the Immigrant Human Capital Investment model (IHCI), which argues that immigrants’ investments are an outcome of settlement intentions, skill transferability, and opportunity costs. The multinomial and ordered logistic regression analyses show that educational investments are stronger among immigrants with higher premigration education, immigrants from former colonies, immigrants who migrated for family reasons, and immigrants who arrived in periods of high unemployment. These ndings generally support the IHCI model.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology/ICS, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 2, 3584 CS Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Frank Van Tubergen

  2. Herman van de Werfhorst, Department of Sociology, Amsterdam University, Amsterdam

    Herman van De Werfhorst

Authors
  1. Frank Van Tubergen
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  2. Herman van De Werfhorst
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Additional information

An earlier version of this article was presented at the spring meeting of the International Sociological Association Research Committee 28 on Social Stratification and Mobility, Nijmegen, Netherlands, May 11–14, 2006; and at the Dag van de Sociologie, Tilburg, Netherlands, June 8, 2006. The authors wish to thank Suzanne Model, Aslan Zorlu, and anonymous reviewers of Demography for comments on an earlier version.

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Van Tubergen, F., van De Werfhorst, H. Postimmigration investments in Education: a Study of Immigrants in the Netherlands. Demography 44, 883–898 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1353/dem.2007.0046

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