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Economic Opportunity or Hardship? The Causes of Geographic Mobility on the Agricultural Frontier, 1860–1880

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2009

James I. Stewart
James I. Stewart*
Affiliation:
Associate, The Cadmus Group, Energy Services Division, 720 SW Washington St., Suite 400, Portland, OR 97205. e-mail: [email protected].
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Abstract

Historians disagree about whether geographic mobility on the frontier reflected economic hardship or opportunity because of the inability to observe the outcomes of non-persisters. This article uses a new sample of frontier families linked between the 1860, 1870, and 1880 U.S. censuses to study mobility and wealth accumulation. Using the incidence of Confederate guerilla warfare in frontier counties to generate exogenous migration, I find the effect of persistence on wealth accumulation is insignificant. Also, young, blue-collar, and landless families—those with the highest net benefits of migration—were the most likely to move. These findings reflect widespread economic opportunity on the frontier.

Type
ARTICLES
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 69 , Issue 1 , March 2009 , pp. 238 - 268
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 2009

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