Author: Jacob Vigdor, Adjunct Fellow, Manhattan Institute's Center for State and Local Leadership, Professor of Public Policy and Economics, Duke University

Speakers: Heather Mac Donald, Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute, Contributing Editor, City Journal
Philip Kasinitz, Professor of Sociology, CUNY Graduate Center
Peter Skerry, Professor of Political Science, Boston College
Naheed Elyasi, The Moral Courage Project, New York University

Moderator: Howard Husock, Vice President, Policy Research, Manhattan Institute

America has historically been a magnet for immigrants from around the world—both because of the economic opportunity it offers and the inspiring notion that anyone can become an American. But are today’s immigrants—still at near-record numbers, notwithstanding the economic downturn—assimilating culturally and economically on a par with those of previous generations? Many Americans fear that some immigrants are forming a persistent economic underclass and a permanent linguistic minority group. Are these concerns justified by the available evidence? Is the United States doing enough to foster assimilation?

In the third volume of the Manhattan Institute’s Index of Immigrant Assimilation, Duke University economist and Manhattan Institute adjunct fellow Jacob Vigdor provides a new analysis of the characteristics of recently-arrived immigrants and the pace of their integration into American society. For the first time, an international version of the index compares rates of assimilation for Muslim immigrants in Europe, Canada, and the United States.

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