Europe's Tired, Poor, Huddled Masses: Self-Selection and Economic Outcomes in the Age of Mass Migration

Authors: Abramitzky, Ran; Boustan, Leah Platt; Eriksson, Katherine

Source: The American Economic Review, Volume 102, Number 5, August 2012 , pp. 1832-1856(25)

Publisher: American Economic Association

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Abstract:

During the age of mass migration (1850-1913), one of the largest migration episodes in history, the United States maintained a nearly open border, allowing the study of migrant decisions unhindered by entry restrictions. We estimate the return to migration while accounting for migrant selection by comparing Norway-to-US migrants with their brothers who stayed in Norway in the late nineteenth century. We also compare fathers of migrants and nonmigrants by wealth and occupation. We find that the return to migration was relatively low (70 percent) and that migrants from urban areas were negatively selected from the sending population.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/aer.102.5.1832

Publication date: 2012-08-01

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The American Economic Review is a general-interest economics journal. The journal is published quarterly and contains articles on a broad range of topics. Established in 1911, the AER is among the nation's oldest and most respected scholarly journals in the economics profession.
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