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

Abstract

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 , 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.

Migrants and the Making of America: The Short- and Long-Run Effects of Immigration during the Age of Mass Migration

“…Another concern is that there were significant challenges and costs associated with obtaining a patent, which might have placed recently-landed foreigners with a limited understanding of English at a disadvantage. 49 With these caveats in mind, we estimate the effect of immigration on the rate of patenting by 48 In fact, recent evidence suggests that immigrants coming from Western European countries, were, if anything, more skilled than the average of the home-country's population (Wegge, 2002, Long and Ferrie, 2013, Abramitzky and Boustan, 2015. 49 While the Patent Act of 1793 might have benefited foreigners by removing the requirement of a thorough oral examination as part of the process of granting patents, the cost of a patent was $35 in 1861, which corresponds to about $891 in 2010 USD.…”

Self-selection of Emigrants: Theory and Evidence on Stochastic Dominance in Observable and Unobservable Characteristics

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Brain drain in the age of mass migration: Does relative inequality explain migrant selectivity?

“…Wegge (2002) and Abramitzky et al (2009) Gráda, 1986, for Baltic migrants to Dublin). Mokyr (1983) confirms that early migrants often reported occupations with high social status, but found that age heaping was significantly higher among Irish migrants than among the Irish population.…”

“…They emphasized as a caveat that the mobility criterion --the change between one of four broad occupational categories -implies that those who were already in the highest category (white collar) had no further possibility of upward mobility. Wegge (2002) finds in her study of the German principality of Hesse-Cassel no strong migrant selectivity as the poor were hindered by poverty constraints from moving whereas the less educated than US natives, they are better educated than the average Mexican, indicating a positive selection. Moraga (2011) wealthier had no incentives to migrate.…”