Working Papers
Ethnic-Occupational Niches: Evidence from the Age of Mass Migration [Draft]
Abstract: Ethnic-Occupational Niches: Evidence from theAge of Mass Migration∗Elijah Locke†June 2026Abstract
Why are some ethnic or immigrant groups vastly overrepresented in certain occupations? I posit that these ethnic-occupational niches are driven by immigrants' pre-migration skills, as well as social networks of fellow countrymen in that occupation. Turning to the United States between 1850 and 1950, I find that 47% of all immigrants were in niches. The presence and intensity of over-representation varied widely across nationality, time, and occupation. Conceptually, whether or not niches produce an efficient allocation of talent hinges on the presence of networks. I digitize new data on immigrant pre-arrival occupations and show higher skill background and larger social networks both significantly increase the likelihood that a newly arrived immigrant chooses to join a niche, but the latter channel is the more salient of the two. Being in a niche early in one's career leads to modest wage gains only for those who changed occupations. A novel instrument for social networks of one's countrymen in the niched occupation confirms their primacy in driving niches. Multiple parallels between niches past and present are uncovered, including their prevalence and distribution, as well as the magnitude of networks as a driver.
Works in Progress
The Gender of Names (with Katarina Fedorov, Martin Fiszbein and Sam Bazzi) [Slides]
Abstract: Changing gender norms have shaped the US economy over the last two centuries, but assessing their evolution is difficult due to the paucity of data. In this paper, we use first names as a novel proxy of gender norms. Certain names sound pleasing and soft to the ear and are therefore perceived as feminine-sounding (Barry and Harper 1995), and we implement this intuition on hundreds of millions of baby names from the United States spanning more than two centuries. We find that baby names for both sexes have become substantially more feminine-sounding in the last 75 years. Using historical full-count census data and modern survey data, we further validate the correlation between BH scores and gender norms. Notably, we find a strong positive relationship between male BH scores and progressive gender attitudes. Overall, our findings suggest that names can be a valuable tool for measuring gender norms.
Our Crowd? Intra-Ethnic Frictions in Immigrant Assimilation (with Ross Mattheis and Sara Benetti)
Abstract: Integration of immigrants is a key topic in the global economy today. New waves of co-ethnic immigrants both make assimilation less valuable, since the group becomes larger, but also increase the incentive for incumbents to differentiate themselves from recent arrivals when threatened by discrimination from natives. Can frictions between waves of migrants shape the economic choices of incumbents? We answer these questions in the context of two waves of Jewish migrants to the United States—the first predominately German, arriving between 1840 and 1880, and the latter arriving primarily from the Russian Empire between 1880 and WWI—that differed dramatically along cultural dimensions. Taking advantage of records from a Jewish genealogical website, we develop a novel methodology to more accurately identify Jews in the US census. Then, we digitize and geolocate data on Jewish institutions across the US between 1890 and 1927. Combining these sources, the evolution of Jewish life after the arrival of the second wave of migrants can be assessed. Preliminary results suggest incumbents increasingly Americanizing their names while decreasing other margins of assimilation.