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Across the sea to Ireland: Return Atlantic migration before the First World War

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  • Fernihough, Alan
  • Ó Gráda, Cormac

Abstract

Are return migrants 'losers' who fail to adapt to the challenges of the host economy, and thereby exacerbate the brain drain linked to emigration? Or are they 'winners' whose return enhances the human and physical capital of the home country? These questions are the subject of a burgeoning literature. This paper analyze a new database culled from the 1911 Irish population census to address these issues for returnees to Ireland from North America more than a century ago. The evidence suggests that those who returned had the edge over the population as a whole in terms of human capital, if not also over those who remained abroad.

Suggested Citation

  • Fernihough, Alan & Ó Gráda, Cormac, 2019. "Across the sea to Ireland: Return Atlantic migration before the First World War," QUCEH Working Paper Series 2019-08, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's University Centre for Economic History.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:qucehw:201908
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Ran Abramitzky & Leah Boustan & Katherine Eriksson, 2019. "To the New World and Back Again: Return Migrants in the Age of Mass Migration," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 72(2), pages 300-322, March.
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    10. Dustmann, Christian, 2003. "Return migration, wage differentials, and the optimal migration duration," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 353-369, April.
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    Cited by:

    1. Colvin, Christopher L. & McLaughlin, Eoin, 2021. "Death, demography and the denominator: Age-adjusted Influenza-18 mortality in Ireland," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    2. Cummins, Neil J. & Ó Gráda, Cormac, 2025. "The Irish in England," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 85(1), pages 180-214, March.
    3. Colvin, Christopher L. & McLaughlin, Eoin, 2020. "Death, demography and the denominator: New Influenza-18 mortality estimates for Ireland," SRERC Working Paper Series SRERCWP2020-2, University College Cork (UCC), Spatial and Regional Economic Research Centre (SRERC).
    4. repec:ehl:wpaper:115497 is not listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    migration; brain gain; economic history; Ireland;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N - Economic History
    • N33 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

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