Family and sex-specific U.S. immigration from Europe, 1870-1910: A panel data study of rates and composition
This paper develops and estimates models of family and sex-specific emigration, as well as the sex composition of this emigration, from 12 European source countries to the U.S. for the period 1870-1910. The models are based on the distinction between economic migrants (males, single females, and some married females) and tied or trailing migrants (females) and are estimated with panel data, including data that relate to the occupational/industrial structure of male and female economic activity in source countries. Hausman-Taylor instrumental variable estimates suggest that although both males and females responded to labor-market signals, males were more responsive than females to per capita GDP differences. Moreover, compared to the rest of Europe, Ireland, and Scandinavia were the sources of many young, single male, and female migrants, who responded strongly to gaps in economic opportunities. In fact, much of the European response to such gaps appears to be due to migrants from Ireland and Scandinavia. Females tended to originate in English-speaking countries and countries that were agriculturally oriented. Service and manufacturing jobs in source countries discouraged the migration of females relative to males. Males tended to follow recent migrants more than females, but females responded more to long-term influences as measured by stocks of migrants from their source countries who had previously settled in the U.S. Countries with high birth rates had relatively fewer female emigrants, whereas those with high rates of natural increase 20 years earlier experienced relatively more male emigration. Intact families, other family members (including family-strategy male migrants and trailing female migrants), and single males and females responded strongly to economic incentives, but the singles were most responsive followed by family-strategy males.
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.
References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
- Walter F. Willcox, 1929. "International Migrations, Volume I: Statistics," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number fere29-1, June.
- J. A. Hausman & W. E. Taylor, 1980.
"Panel Data and Unobservable Individual Effects,"
255, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Economics.
- Hausman, Jerry A. & Taylor, William E., 1981. "Panel data and unobservable individual effects," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 155-155, May.
- Hausman, Jerry A & Taylor, William E, 1981. "Panel Data and Unobservable Individual Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(6), pages 1377-98, November.
- Rosenzweig, Mark R. & Stark, Oded, 1987.
"Consumption Smoothing, Migration and Marriage: Evidence from Rural India,"
7515, University of Minnesota, Economic Development Center.
- Rosenzweig, Mark R & Stark, Oded, 1989. "Consumption Smoothing, Migration, and Marriage: Evidence from Rural India," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(4), pages 905-26, August.
- Parks, Richard W, 1969. "Systems of Demand Equations: An Empirical Comparison of Alternative Functional Forms," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 37(4), pages 629-50, October.
- Tomaske, John A., 1971. "The Determinants of Intercountry Differences in European Emigration: 1881–1900," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 31(04), pages 840-853, December.
- Berndt, Ernst R & Wood, David O, 1975. "Technology, Prices, and the Derived Demand for Energy," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 57(3), pages 259-68, August.
- Dunlevy, James A & Gemery, Henry A, 1977. "The Role of Migrant Stock and Lagged Migration in the Settlement Patterns of Nineteenth Century Immigrants," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 59(2), pages 137-44, May.
- Barten, Anton P, 1977. "The Systems of Consumer Demand Functions Approach: A Review," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 45(1), pages 23-51, January.
- Greenwood, Michael J. & McDowell, John M. & Wierman, Matt, 2003. "Source-country social programs and the age composition of legal US immigrants," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(3-4), pages 739-771, March.
- Greenwood, Michael J & McDowell, John M, 1991. "Differential Economic Opportunity, Transferability of Skills, and Immigration to the United States and Canada," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 73(4), pages 612-23, November.
- Jeffrey G. Williamson, 1992.
"The Evolution of Global Labor Markets Since 1830 Background Evidence and Hypotheses,"
NBER Historical Working Papers
0036, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Williamson Jeffrey G., 1995. "The Evolution of Global Labor Markets since 1830: Background Evidence and Hypotheses," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 141-196, April.
- Williamson, Jeffrey G., 1974. "Migration to the new world: Long term influences and impact," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 357-389.
- Mincer, Jacob, 1978. "Family Migration Decisions," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 86(5), pages 749-73, October.
- Greenwood, Michael J., 2007. "Modeling the age and age composition of late 19th century U.S. immigrants from Europe," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 255-269, April.
- Pollak, Robert A & Wales, Terrence J, 1969. "Estimation of the Linear Expenditure System," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 37(4), pages 611-28, October.
- Greenwood, Michael J, 1969. "An Analysis of the Determinants of Geographic Labor Mobility in the United States," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 51(2), pages 189-94, May.
When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:exehis:v:45:y:2008:i:4:p:356-382. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.
For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Zhang, Lei)
If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.
If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.
If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link to it, you can help with this form.
If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.
Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.