Cultural adaptation and demographic change: evidence from Mexican-American naming patterns after the California Gold Rush

Figures & data

Figure 1. Demographic Change in California and New Mexico. The left panel displays the number of children born in California to Mexican vs. non-Mexican parents, by birth year. The right panel displays analogous information for children born in New Mexico. The data are drawn from the 1860 census. We define Mexican parentage as having both parents born in either Mexico or California/New Mexico before 1849.

Figure 2. Descriptive Results. The Figure displays shows the distributions of HNI scores for Californio children born before vs. after the Gold Rush.

Table 1. Regression Results: Effect of the Gold Rush on HNI Scores.

	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)	(7)	(8)
Post-Goldrush	−3.278${}^{\ast \ast }$	−3.644${}^{\ast }$	1.109${}^{\ast \ast }$	1.165${}^{\ast \ast }$	1.123${}^{\ast \ast \ast }$	1.165${}^{\ast \ast }$	0.760${}^{\ast }$	0.911${}^{\ast }$
	(1.194)	(1.510)	(0.339)	(0.442)	(0.340)	(0.442)	(0.348)	(0.461)
Californio			−6.508${}^{\ast \ast \ast }$		−10.673${}^{\ast \ast \ast }$		−4.039${}^{\ast \ast \ast }$
			(1.107)		(2.038)		(1.195)
Post-Goldrush ×Californio			−4.341${}^{\ast \ast \ast }$	−4.809${}^{\ast \ast }$	−6.217${}^{\ast \ast }$	−7.354${}^{\ast \ast }$	−2.310	−3.058
			(1.240)	(1.573)	(2.249)	(2.807)	(1.348)	(1.793)
Constant	87.916${}^{\ast \ast \ast }$	88.438${}^{\ast \ast \ast }$	94.511${}^{\ast \ast \ast }$	93.411${}^{\ast \ast \ast }$	94.505${}^{\ast \ast \ast }$	93.704${}^{\ast \ast \ast }$	94.916${}^{\ast \ast \ast }$	94.381${}^{\ast \ast \ast }$
	(1.073)	(1.142)	(0.307)	(0.338)	(0.307)	(0.350)	(0.310)	(0.338)
Observations	3629	3629	19,816	19,816	17,686	17,686	16,718	16,718
Num Households	1371	1371	8004	8004	7224	7224	6752	6752
Sample	CA	CA	CA + NM	CA + NM	Nor. CA + NM	Nor. CA + NM	So. CA + NM	So. CA + NM
Sibling Effects	Random	Fixed	Random	Fixed	Random	Fixed	Random	Fixed

Notes: Robust standard errors in parentheses.${}^{\ast }<0.05$, ${}^{\ast \ast }<0.01$, ${}^{\ast \ast \ast }<0.001$