Emigration Dynamics and Transatlantic Voyage from Austria-Hungary to the U.S. between 1840 to 1910

The study focuses on the temporal differences (30 years on average) between ethnic groups migrating from the Austro-Hungarian Empire to the U.S. between 1850 and 1910. In our study, we argue that the main factor that led to differences in the timing of emigration was the differences in regional economic development of different ethnic groups living in different regions of the Empire. Migration costs: before the 1864 introduction of steam engine technology in transatlantic maritime transport, emigration costs were not affordable for Hungarians and Slovaks due to the sea and land voyage high ticket prices. Therefore, with more resources, Austrians and Czechs could afford to migrate earlier. However, after the introduction of steamship technology and the technological change in ship engines, travel became more affordable due to reduced ticket prices, faster voyages, and increased capacity. This allowed Hungarians and Slovaks from poorer regions to begin migrating in larger numbers as migration became economically feasible. In this study, we utilise a complete count of the U.S. Census records from 1900 and 1910 (Helgertz et al., 2023; Ruggles et al., 2021), which Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS). On the other hand, we utilise economic indicators, which are regional daily wage, GDP per capita income and living standard data for the Austria-Hungary Empire from Cvrcek (2013) and Schulze (2000).