[crassus2]

Chinese and Germans in the United States also do very well in the economy. Maybe there's some third factor that we're missing.

These kind of articles make the implicit assumption that countries are the same except for being located in different locations, and that successful institutions from one can be transplanted to another. But each is an organic entity, with different histories and cultures

[csours]

How well do expats do in general? It seems that if you are able to afford to leave your country to work or study you are already doing quite well.

[crassus2]

Not all expats are created equal. For example, Mexicans living in the US tend not to do so well in education or the economy, dragging a lot of US national statistics down. This is because a lot of Mexican-Americans come from lower class backgrounds and not Mexico's educated elites.

[collyw]

As another discussion pointed out on HN, Mexicans and poeple of lower class backgrounds will be referred to as "immigrants", while people from richer countries will be referred to as "expats".

I have started trying to swap the two around in my own language, to avoid stereotyping people based on class.