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Migration and Economic Mobility: Wealth Accumulation and Occupational Change Among Antebellum Migrants and Persisters

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  • Herscovici, Steven

Abstract

Research on nineteenth-century economic and social mobility has concentrated on occupational change among men who remained in the same community for ten or more years, although fewer than half of any community's residents persist that long. This article uses a data set created specifically to compare the experiences of men who migrated from Newburyport, Massachusetts in the mid-nineteenth century with those of men who persisted. It finds that blue-collar migrants were more successful than were their counterparts who did not move. The results suggest that previous studies may have considerably underestimated the extent of economic opportunity in nineteenth-century America.

Suggested Citation

  • Herscovici, Steven, 1998. "Migration and Economic Mobility: Wealth Accumulation and Occupational Change Among Antebellum Migrants and Persisters," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 58(4), pages 927-956, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:58:y:1998:i:04:p:927-956_02
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    Cited by:

    1. Gary D. Libecap & Zeynep Kocabiyik Hansen, 2000. ""Rain Follows the Plow" and Dryfarming Doctrine: The Climate Information Problem and Homestead Failure in the Upper Great Plains, 1890-1925," NBER Historical Working Papers 0127, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Jaworski, Taylor, 2009. "War and wealth: economic opportunity before and after the Civil War, 1850-1870," Economic History Working Papers 22303, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    3. Livio Di Matteo, 2016. "Wealth Distribution and the Canadian Middle Class: Historical Evidence and Policy Implications," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 42(2), pages 132-151, June.
    4. Stewart, James I., 2006. "Migration to the agricultural frontier and wealth accumulation, 1860-1870," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 547-577, October.
    5. Chulhee Lee, 2005. "Health, Information, and Migration: Geographic Mobility of Union Army Veterans, 1860-1880," NBER Working Papers 11207, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Cormac Ó Gráda, 2005. "The New York Irish in the 1850s : locked in by poverty?," Open Access publications 10197/489, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    7. Stewart, James I., 2012. "Migration to U.S. frontier cities and job opportunity, 1860–1880," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 49(4), pages 528-542.
    8. Cosgel, Metin M. & Andrew, Bradley B., 2001. "Membership in a Religious Commune: The Shakers, 1850-1870," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 273-295, April.
    9. Di Matteo, Livio, 2013. "Women, wealth and economic change: An assessment of the impact of women's property law in Wentworth County, Ontario, 1872–1927," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 285-307.
    10. Chulhee Lee, 2003. "Health and Wealth Accumulation: Evidence from Nineteenth-Century America," NBER Working Papers 10035, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Martin Dribe & Christer Lundh, 2010. "Marriage choices and social reproduction," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 22(14), pages 347-382.
    12. Livio Di Matteo, 2008. "Wealth accumulation motives: evidence from the probate records of Ontario, 1892 and 1902," Cliometrica, Journal of Historical Economics and Econometric History, Association Française de Cliométrie (AFC), vol. 2(2), pages 143-171, July.
    13. Maloney, Thomas N., 2001. "Migration and Economic Opportunity in the 1910s: New Evidence on African-American Occupational Mobility in the North," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 147-165, January.
    14. Dribe, Martin & Eriksson, Björn & Scalone, Francesco, 2019. "Migration, marriage and social mobility: Women in Sweden 1880–1900," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 93-111.
    15. Anbinder, Tyler & Connor, Dylan & O Grada, Cormac & Wegge, Simone, 2021. "The Problem of False Positives in Automated Census Linking: Evidence from Nineteenth-Century New York's Irish Immigrants," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 568, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).

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