Score contribution per author:
α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count
Argentina and the United States were the principal destinations for Italian immigrants during the Age of Mass Migration. I assemble data following Italians from passenger lists to censuses in Argentina and the United States, enabling me to compare the economic outcomes of migrants with similar pre-migration characteristics but who moved to different countries. Italians assimilated faster in Argentina, and this advantage was unlikely to be due to selection. A higher human capital relative to natives and the Italian-Spanish similarity largely explain Italians’ advantage in Argentina. These findings highlight the importance of the fit between migrants’ characteristics and those of the receiving country.