The Hispanic health paradox: New evidence from longitudinal data on second and third-generation birth outcomes

This study examines the birth weight of second and third-generation Hispanics born in California and Florida, two of the major immigrant destination states in the US. I exploit a unique dataset of linked birth records for two generations of children born in California and Florida (1970-2009) and linear probability models to investigate the generational decline in the birth outcomes of Hispanics in the US. The data allow using an extensive set of socio-demographic controls and breaking down the results by country of origin. Second-generation children of Mexican and Cuban origin have better birth outcomes than children of US-born white women. Children of Puerto Rican origin have instead worse birth outcomes. The advantage observed among second-generation Hispanics erodes substantially in the third generation but third-generation Mexicans retain some of it.