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At the landmark centennial anniversary of the 1917 Jones-Shafroth Act, which granted Puerto Ricans U.S. citizenship, the island confronts an unfolding humanitarian crisis initially triggered by an acute economic crisis surging since 2006. Analyzing large datasets such as the American Community Survey and the Puerto Rican Community Survey, this book represents the first comprehensive analysis of the socioeconomic and demographic consequences of “La Crisis Boricua” for Puerto Ricans on the island and mainland, including massive net outmigration from the island on a scale not seen for sixty years; a shrinking and rapidly aging population; a shut-down of high-tech industries; a significant loss in public and private sector jobs; a deteriorating infrastructure; higher sales taxes than any of the states; $74 billion in public debt plus another $49 billion in unfunded pension obligations; and defaults on payments to bondholders. This book also discusses how the socioeconomic and demographic outcomes differ among stateside Puerto Ricans, including recent migrants, in traditional settlement areas such as New York versus those in newer settlement areas such as Florida and Texas. Florida is now home to 1.1 million Puerto Ricans (essentially the same number as those living in New York) and received a full third of the migrants from the island to mainland during this time. Scholars interested in the transition of migrants into their receiving communities (regardless of the Puerto Rican case) will also find this book to be of interest, particularly with respect to the comparative analyses on earnings, the likelihood of being impoverished, and self-employment.

Hispanics account for more than half the population growth in the United States over the last decade. With this surge has come a dramatic spike in the number of Hispanic-owned businesses. Hispanic Entrepreneurs in the 2000s is a pioneering study of this nascent demographic. Drawing on rich quantitative data, authors Alberto Dávila and Marie T. Mora examine key economic issues facing Hispanic entrepreneurs, such as access to financial capital and the adoption and vitality of digital technology. They analyze the varying effects that these factors have on subsets of the Hispanic community, such as Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and Salvadorans, while considering gender and immigrant status. This account highlights key policies to drive the success of Hispanic entrepreneurs, while drawing out strategies that entrepreneurs can use in order to cultivate their businesses. Far-reaching and nuanced, Hispanic Entrepreneurs in the 2000s is an important study of a population that is quickly becoming a vital component of American job creation.

Hispanics account for more than half the population growth in the United States over the last decade. With this surge has come a dramatic spike in the number of Hispanic-owned businesses. Hispanic Entrepreneurs in the 2000s is a pioneering study of this nascent demographic. Drawing on rich quantitative data, authors Alberto Dávila and Marie T. Mora examine key economic issues facing Hispanic entrepreneurs, such as access to financial capital and the adoption and vitality of digital technology. They analyze the varying effects that these factors have on subsets of the Hispanic community, such as Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and Salvadorans, while considering gender and immigrant status. This account highlights key policies to drive the success of Hispanic entrepreneurs, while drawing out strategies that entrepreneurs can use in order to cultivate their businesses. Far-reaching and nuanced, Hispanic Entrepreneurs in the 2000s is an important study of a population that is quickly becoming a vital component of American job creation.

Using 1990 and 2000 U.S. census data, this study investigates changes in immigrant/native earnings disparities for workers in U.S. cities along the international border with Mexico vis-a-vis the U.S. interior during the 1990s. Our findingsbased on estimating earnings functions and employing the Juhn-Murphy-Pierce (1993, JPE) wage decomposition technique indicate that the average earnings of Mexican immigrants along the U.S.-Mexico border improved relative to those accrued by their counterparts in the U.S. interior and by otherwise similar U.S.-born Mexican Americans between 1990 and 2000. However, when comparing Mexican-born workers to U.S.-born non-Hispanic whites, the immigrant border-earnings penalty remained statistically unchanged.

We use data from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, and the 2000 U.S. decennial census to analyze how occupational risk relates to the earnings of Hispanic immigrant men. Our findings indicate that those with limited English-language fluency received significantly higher compensating wages in unsafe jobs than their English-fluent counterparts. The larger occupational-risk premiums accrued by limited-English-proficient (LEP) foreign-born Hispanic men also hold when further including U.S.-born Hispanic, non-Hispanic Black, and non-Hispanic White men in the sample. These findings are consistent with underlying differences in preferences toward wages versus safety between LEP and English-proficient workers and/or differences in coverage under formal workers compensation programs, perhaps because undocumented workers (many of whom already faced hazardous conditions when migrating illegally to work in the United States) comprise a disproportionate share of the LEP. However, our data and methodologies do not allow us to determine whether these premiums adequately compensate the LEP for the occupational risk they undertake.

Using panel data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS), the authors first analyze how civic engagement (measured in terms of community service and participation in student government) undertaken at the high school level varies across race/ethnicity and gender. The findings indicate that female high school students tend to be more civically engaged than males in the same race/ethnic group. Also, Asian students have the highest participation rates in civic activities out of the four race/ethnic groups considered here (non-Hispanic whites, African Americans, Hispanics, and Asians); Hispanics tend to be the least involved. Underlying preferences, college aspirations, and opportunity costs explain a large part of these inter-gender and inter-ethnic differences in civic engagement. This study also investigates whether civic engagement differently affects scholastic progress in four academic disciplines and subsequent educational attainment along racial/ethnic and gender lines. The empirical results show that when controlling for a host of socioeconomic characteristics, community service activities required for classes have slightly larger effects on the academic progress of males versus females, but similar effects across race/ethnicity. Finally, performing community service during high school significantly enhances the odds of subsequent college graduation overall, although less so for Hispanic females than their non-Hispanic peers. (Contains 5 tables.) [This working paper was produced by the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement (CIRCLE).].

En un relato profundamente humano y conmovedor, Luis Alberto Dávila desentraña la historia de Omar, quien, nacido en la pobreza y enfrentado a adversidades inimaginables, nos enseña el poder de la resiliencia y el servicio desinteresado. Omar, el resiliente. Luchando contra la adversidad es una obra que desafía nuestras percepciones sobre la pobreza y la riqueza, el éxito y el fracaso. Dávila, con un estilo sincero y reflexivo, comparte no solo las tribulaciones, sino también las victorias de aquellos que, a pesar de todo, eligen vivir con dignidad y esperanza. Un libro esencial para quienes buscan inspiración y entendimiento en tiempos de incertidumbre. ¡Si crees en el poder de la mente, este libro es para ti!