Do immigrants assimilate in response to an exogenous shock in anti-immigrant sentiment? I investigate this question by examining the Pearl Harbor bombing as a natural experiment. I generate an index for the Americanization of first names from the 1900–1930 censuses and merge this index with records from the universe of Japanese-American internees during WW2. Regression discontinuity in day-of-birth estimates suggest that Japanese Americans born in the days after Pearl Harbor had more Americanized first names relative to internees born in the days before December 7th, 1941. There is no discontinuity in socioeconomic variables, and a within-family analysis yields similar results.

移民是否因反移民情绪的外来冲击而同化？我通过检查珍珠港轰炸作为一个自然实验来调查这个问题。我为1900-1930年的人口普查生成了姓氏美国化的索引，并将该索引与二战期间日裔美国人被拘禁者的宇宙记录合并。出生日期估计中的回归不连续性表明，珍珠港之后出生的日裔美国人相对于1941年12月7日之前出生的被拘禁者而言具有更多的美国化名字。家庭分析得出相似的结果。