Internal migration and inequalities. The influence of migrant origin on educational attainment in Spain

This paper examines the influence of origin (parents and/or individual native of a certain region/non-native) on educational attainment in different social and economic settings. In Spain, differences between natives and non-natives in terms of education and social mobility have been observed for a long time. However, the determinants of such inequalities have not been analysed. Using data from the Spanish 1991 Socio-Demographic Survey, we conduct a logistic regression analysis to assess whether being of non-native origin has a negative impact on educational attainment and whether such impact is constant across destination regions and birth cohorts. Our findings indicate that differences by origin persist once socioeconomic characteristics are accounted for. In particular, the probability of enrolling in higher education is significantly lower for individuals with non-native parents. However, results vary greatly by region of destination and by cohort. The possible reasons why parents' mobility affects groups differently depending on destination are discussed in the paper.