Cuban Migration to the United States and the Educational Self-Selection Problem

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.13169/intejcubastud.6.1.0041
• Pages: 41-54
• Published date: 01 April 2014
• Date: 01 April 2014
• Author: Aleida Cobas Valdés,Ana Fernández Sainz
• Subject Matter: migration,Cuba,self-selection,education,binary logit model

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CUBAN MIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES

AND THE EDUCATIONAL SELFSELECTION

PROBLEM

Aleida Cobas Valdés and Ana Fernández Sainz

University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Spain

Abstract

The aim of this article is to study the educational self-selection problem of Cuban

migration to the US. For this analysis, we specify and estimate a binary logit model to

analyse the observable covariates that explain migration probability. The data used in

the study came from the 2010 Census of Population and Housing in the US and from

the 2002 Cuba Census of Population and Housing, both data set have been provided by

IPUMS (2010) and IPUMS International (2011). The results indicate that education, age

and occupational covariates explain migration probability. Moreover, there is a positive

educational self-selection problem, that is, those people with a higher education migrate.

The principal contribution of this article is to demonstrate how high-level education

increases the probability of Cubans emigrating. The positive educational self-selection

problem has signif‌icant negative consequences, for example, loss of human capital.

Keywords: migration, Cuba, self-selection, education, binary logit model

Introduction

Until the early twentieth century, Cuba was considered a country of immigrants.

Cuban people have been shaped by three major migration f‌lows: European

(mainly Spanish), African and Chinese, the most important being the Spanish

power, involving around one and a half million people (Pérez de la Riva 2000).

In the second half of the nineteenth century, one-third of the Cuban population

was born outside the island.

From 1850 to 1899, 900,000 immigrants entered Cuba, primarily Spanish

immigrants, representing 90 per cent of European immigration: mainly men

working in the sugar and tobacco industry (Pérez de la Riva 2000). In 1899,

10.97 per cent of the Cuban population was born abroad, 81 per cent of which

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