THE WEALTH-ACCUMULATION OF ANTEBELLUM EUROPEAN IMMIGRANTS TO THE UNITED-STATES, 1840-60

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: National Bureau of Economic Research
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0507
• DOI: 10.1017/S0022050700013978
• 发表日期: 1994
• 页码: 1-33
• 关键词: earnings; frontier; AGE

摘要

This article explores wealth accumulation among European immigrants who arrived in the United States between 1840 and 1850. It uses a new sample of immigrants linked from passenger-ship records to the 1850 and 1860 federal census manuscripts. These immigrants rapidly accumulated real and personal wealth. Their real wealth grew 10 percent with each year's residence in the United States. This was not because immigrants arriving in the early 1840s were wealthier at arrival than later arrivals, nor was the rapid accumulation of wealth confined to one nationality or occupation. Rather, it reflects these immigrants' abilities to adapt to new circumstances after their arrival.