UC Irvine

This dissertation investigates a central concern of advanced democracies: How do migrants integrate into their host society? What role do states play in reducing disparities between immigrant and native communities? Can the direct causes of migrant incorporation be identified? Successful integration creates productive citizens and a vibrant civil society, while its absence perpetuates disconnected ethnic enclaves and cycles of underachievement that can last generations, and, in the worst case, lead to acts of terrorism. Using a variety of methodological techniques and data including cross-sectional, panel, and experimental across twenty-seven advanced democracies, my central finding is an ordinal and conditional presentation to the process of immigrant integration. Specifically, economic integration occurs first and is causal in enabling later political and civic incorporation. Further, state recruitment and settlement policies interact to affect this crucial element of immigrant integration. These findings improve our understanding of migrant behavior, the value of economic determinants, and the integration process in society writ large.