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Immigrants and Savers: A Rich New Database on the Irish in 1850s New York

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  • Simone Wegge
  • Tyler Anbinder
  • Cormac Ó Gráda

Abstract

We describe a new dataset created from the first 18,000 savings accounts opened (from 1850 to 1858) at the Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank in New York City. The bank was founded by Irish Americans and most of its depositors in its first decade of operations were recent Irish immigrants. The data offer a unique window on both savings behavior by the poor and not-so-poor in antebellum New York and on how emigrants who came primarily from rural parts of Ireland adapted to urban life. They also contain much that is new on the regional origins of mid-nineteenth century Irish immigrants and on their settlement patterns in New York.

Suggested Citation

  • Simone Wegge & Tyler Anbinder & Cormac Ó Gráda, 2017. "Immigrants and Savers: A Rich New Database on the Irish in 1850s New York," Working Papers 201707, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucn:wpaper:201707
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10197/8688
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ashoka Mody & Franziska Ohnsorge & Damiano Sandri, 2012. "Precautionary Savings in the Great Recession," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 60(1), pages 114-138, April.
    2. Erik Hurst & Annamaria Lusardi & Arthur Kennickell & Francisco Torralba, 2010. "The Importance of Business Owners in Assessing the Size of Precautionary Savings," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 92(1), pages 61-69, February.
    3. Robert A. Margo, 2000. "Wages and Labor Markets in the United States, 1820-1860," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number marg00-1.
    4. Ó Gráda, Cormac & White, Eugene N., 2003. "The Panics of 1854 and 1857: A View from the Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 63(1), pages 213-240, March.
    5. Timothy W. Guinnane, 2002. "Delegated Monitors, Large and Small: Germany's Banking System, 1800–1914," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 40(1), pages 73-124, March.
    6. Cormac O Grada & Morgan Kelly, 2000. "Market Contagion: Evidence from the Panics of 1854 and 1857," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(5), pages 1110-1124, December.
    7. Alter, George & Goldin, Claudia & Rotella, Elyce, 1994. "The Savings of Ordinary Americans: The Philadelphia Saving Fund Society in the Mid-Nineteenth Century," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 54(4), pages 735-767, December.
    8. Eugene N. White & Cormac Ó Gráda, 2003. "The panics of 1854 and 1857 : a view from the Emigration Industrial Savings Bank," Open Access publications 10197/438, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    9. Hatton, Timothy J. & Williamson, Jeffrey G., 1998. "The Age of Mass Migration: Causes and Economic Impact," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195116519.
    10. Fishlow, Albert, 1961. "The Trustee Savings Banks, 1817–1861," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 21(1), pages 26-40, March.
    11. Robert A. Margo, 2000. "Introduction to "Wages and Labor Markets in the United States, 1820-1860"," NBER Chapters, in: Wages and Labor Markets in the United States, 1820-1860, pages 1-5, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Joseph P. Ferrie, 1999. "Yankeys Now: Immigrants in the Antebellum US 1840-1860," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number ferr99-1.
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    Cited by:

    1. Fernihough, Alan & Ó Gráda, Cormac, 2018. "Population and poverty in Ireland on the eve of the Great Famine," QUCEH Working Paper Series 2018-13, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's University Centre for Economic History.
    2. Cormac Ó Gráda, 2018. "The Next World and the New World: Relief, Migration, and the Great Irish Famine," Working Papers 201821, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    3. 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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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Savings behavior; Irish immigration; Social mobility; New York;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N - Economic History
    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration

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