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The Wealth Accumulation of Antebellum European Immigrants to the U.S., 1840–60

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2009

Joseph P. Ferrie
Joseph P. Ferrie
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor of Economics, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208; and Faculty Research Fellow, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA 02138.
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Abstract

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.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 54 , Issue 1 , March 1994 , pp. 1 - 33
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1994

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