Occupational self-selection of European emigrants: Evidence from nineteenth-century Hesse-Cassel

Self-selection mechanisms are important because they shed light on what has been relevant to those who migrate, especially in the nineteenth century. Using new micro data gathered from emigrant permit lists and census data in the homeland, I compare over 10,000 German emigrants to those who stayed a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European review of economic history 2002-12, Vol.6 (3), p.365-394
Main Author: WEGGE, SIMONE A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
19th century
Agricultural land
Alternative agriculture
Artisans
Cash
Cost control
Economic history
Economic migration
Emigration
Farmers
Human migration
Immigrants
Immigration
Labor market
Manual workers
Migration
Noncitizens
Occupations
Population
Skills
Studies
Wealth
Workforce
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Summary:Self-selection mechanisms are important because they shed light on what has been relevant to those who migrate, especially in the nineteenth century. Using new micro data gathered from emigrant permit lists and census data in the homeland, I compare over 10,000 German emigrants to those who stayed at home. I find that artisans were over-represented and farmers and labourers both under-represented. The emigrant population was positively self-selected in terms of skills, but negatively self-selected in terms of financial wealth.
ISSN:1361-4916
1474-0044
DOI:10.1017/S1361491602000175