Full Citation

Title: Internal immigrant mobility in the early 20th century: evidence from Galveston, Texas

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 2020

ISBN:

ISSN: 00144983

DOI: 10.1016/j.eeh.2019.101317

NSFID:

PMCID:

PMID:

Abstract: Between 1907 and 1914, the “Galveston Movement,” a philanthropic effort spearheaded by Jacob Schiff, fostered the immigration of approximately 10,000 Russian Jews through the Port of Galveston, Texas. Upon arrival, households were given train tickets to pre-selected locations west of the Mississippi River where a job awaited. Despitethe program’s stated purpose to locate new Russian Jewish immigrants tothe Western part of the U.S.,we find thatroughly 85 to 90percent of the prime-age male participants ultimately moved east of the Mississippi, typically to large Northeasternand Midwesterncities. We use a standard framework for modeling location decisions to show destination assignments made cities more desirable, but this effect was overwhelmed by the attraction of religious and country of origin enclaves. Economic conditions appear to be of secondary importanceto our ethnic measures, even for participants at the top of theskill distribution.

Url: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001449831930227X

Url: https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S001449831930227X

User Submitted?: No

Authors: Aaronson, Daniel; Davis, Jonathan; Schulze, Karl

Periodical (Full): Explorations in Economic History

Issue:

Volume: 76

Pages:

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Migration and Immigration, Population Mobility and Spatial Demography

Countries: