IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cje/issued/v45y2012i2p732-754.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

International migration with capital constraints: interpreting migration from the Netherlands to Canada in the 1920s

Author

Listed:
  • Alex Armstrong
  • Frank D. Lewis

Abstract

An inability to borrow affected migration from Europe to North America. This capital constraint is formalized with a life-cycle model, where agents jointly choose how much to save, the optimal period to finance migration, and whether to migrate. Using a life-cycle model we show that preference for the home country, the period of adjustment after arrival, and the direct cost of migration affect the savings of migrants, age at migration, and who migrates. These results are discussed in light of wages in Canada and the Netherlands, and the characteristics of Dutch immigrants drawn from ship passenger manifests. Capital constraints delayed migration and help explain the large wage gap between the Netherlands and Canada. JEL classification: J61, N32, N34

Suggested Citation

  • Alex Armstrong & Frank D. Lewis, 2012. "International migration with capital constraints: interpreting migration from the Netherlands to Canada in the 1920s," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 45(2), pages 732-754, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:cje:issued:v:45:y:2012:i:2:p:732-754
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-5982.2012.01714.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5982.2012.01714.x
    Download Restriction: access restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1540-5982.2012.01714.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. George J. Borjas, 2021. "The Economic Benefits from Immigration," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Foundational Essays in Immigration Economics, chapter 13, pages 411-430, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    2. Ferrie, Joseph P., 1994. "The Wealth Accumulation of Antebellum European Immigrants to the U.S., 1840–60," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 54(1), pages 1-33, March.
    3. Williamson Jeffrey G., 1995. "The Evolution of Global Labor Markets since 1830: Background Evidence and Hypotheses," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 141-196, April.
    4. Kilpatrick, Robert W, 1973. "The Income Elasticity of the Poverty Line," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 55(3), pages 327-332, August.
    5. Chiswick, Barry R, 1978. "The Effect of Americanization on the Earnings of Foreign-born Men," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 86(5), pages 897-921, October.
    6. Frank D. Lewis, 2001. "Farm settlement with imperfect capital markets: a life‐cycle application to Upper Canada, 1826–1851," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 34(1), pages 174-195, February.
    7. Greenwood, Michael J., 2008. "Family and sex-specific U.S. immigration from Europe, 1870-1910: A panel data study of rates and composition," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 45(4), pages 356-382, September.
    8. George J. Borjas, 1994. "The Economics of Immigration," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 32(4), pages 1667-1717, December.
    9. Grubb, Farley, 1986. "Redemptioner Immigration to Pennsylvania: Evidence on Contract Choice and Profitability," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 46(2), pages 407-418, June.
    10. Michael G. Abbott & Charles M. Beach, 1993. "Immigrant Earnings Differentials and Birth-Year Effects for Men in Canada: Post-war-1972," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 26(3), pages 505-524, August.
    11. Slobodan Djajić, 2010. "Investment opportunities in the source country and temporary migration," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(2), pages 663-682, May.
    12. Baker, Michael & Benjamin, Dwayne, 1994. "The Performance of Immigrants in the Canadian Labor Market," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 12(3), pages 369-405, July.
    13. Green Alan G. & Green David A., 1993. "Balanced Growth and the Geographical Distribution of European Immigrant Arrivals to Canada, 1900-1912," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 31-59, January.
    14. Wegge, Simone A., 1998. "Chain Migration and Information Networks: Evidence From Nineteenth-Century Hesse-Cassel," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 58(4), pages 957-986, December.
    15. Green, Alan & MacKinnon, Mary, 2001. "The Slow Assimilation of British Immigrants in Canada: Evidence from Montreal and Toronto, 1901," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 315-338, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dalmazzo, Alberto & de Blasio, Guido & Poy, Samuele, 2018. "Local secessions, homophily, and growth. A model with some evidence from the regions of Abruzzo and Molise (Italy, 1963)," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 284-306.
    2. Alex Armstrong & Frank D. Lewis, 2017. "Transatlantic wage gaps and the migration decision: Europe–Canada in the 1920s," Cliometrica, Journal of Historical Economics and Econometric History, Association Française de Cliométrie (AFC), vol. 11(2), pages 153-182, May.
    3. Zachary Ward, 2015. "The U-Shaped Self-Selection of Return Migrants," CEH Discussion Papers 035, Centre for Economic History, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    4. Gillian C. Hamilton & Ian Keay & Frank D. Lewis, 2017. "Contributions to Canadian economic history: The last 30 years," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 50(5), pages 1632-1657, December.
    5. Michael A. Clemens & Claudio Montenegro & Lant Pritchett, 2016. "Bounding the Price Equivalent of Migration Barriers," CID Working Papers 316, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    6. Sichko, Christopher, 2021. "Migrant Selection and Sorting during the Great American Drought," SocArXiv wm2p3, Center for Open Science.
    7. Kris Inwood & Chris Minns & Fraser Summerfield, 2016. "Reverse assimilation? Immigrants in the Canadian labour market during the Great Depression," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 20(3), pages 299-321.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Alexander Armstrong & Frank D. Lewis, 2009. "Capital Constraints And European Migration To Canada: Evidence From The 1920s Passenger Lists," Working Paper 1230, Economics Department, Queen's University.
    2. Timothy J. Hatton, 2010. "The Cliometrics Of International Migration: A Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(5), pages 941-969, December.
    3. Ran Abramitzky & Leah Boustan, 2017. "Immigration in American Economic History," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 55(4), pages 1311-1345, December.
    4. Kris Inwood & Chris Minns & Fraser Summerfield, 2016. "Reverse assimilation? Immigrants in the Canadian labour market during the Great Depression," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 20(3), pages 299-321.
    5. Alex Armstrong & Frank D. Lewis, 2017. "Transatlantic wage gaps and the migration decision: Europe–Canada in the 1920s," Cliometrica, Journal of Historical Economics and Econometric History, Association Française de Cliométrie (AFC), vol. 11(2), pages 153-182, May.
    6. Green, Alan & MacKinnon, Mary, 2001. "The Slow Assimilation of British Immigrants in Canada: Evidence from Montreal and Toronto, 1901," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 315-338, July.
    7. Philipp Ager & Casper Worm Hansen, 2016. "National Immigration Quotas and Local Economic Growth," Discussion Papers 16-11, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics.
    8. Neeraj Kaushal & Yao Lu & Nicole Denier & Julia Shu-Huah Wang & Stephen J. Trejo, 2016. "Immigrant employment and earnings growth in Canada and the USA: evidence from longitudinal data," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 29(4), pages 1249-1277, October.
    9. Sari Pekkala Kerr & William R. Kerr, 2011. "Economic Impacts of Immigration: A Survey," Finnish Economic Papers, Finnish Economic Association, vol. 24(1), pages 1-32, Spring.
    10. Frederic REYNES & Samuel OKULLO & Marjan HOFKES, 2010. "How Does Economic Theory Explain the Hubbert Peak Oil Model?," EcoMod2010 259600140, EcoMod.
    11. Mats Hammarstedt, 2009. "Intergenerational Mobility and the Earnings Position of First‐, Second‐, and Third‐Generation Immigrants," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(2), pages 275-292, April.
    12. Jackie M. L. Chan, 2014. "Assimilation of Hong Kong Immigrants in Canada," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(4), pages 439-465, October.
    13. José M. Casado-Díaz & Raquel Simón-Albert & Hipólito Simón, 2022. "Reassessing the commuting penalty for immigrants: new evidence from Spain," Transportation, Springer, vol. 49(4), pages 1099-1132, August.
    14. Boris Podobnik & Marko Jusup & Dejan Kovac & H. E. Stanley, 2017. "Predicting the Rise of EU Right-Wing Populism in Response to Unbalanced Immigration," Complexity, Hindawi, vol. 2017, pages 1-12, August.
    15. Elena Vidal-Coso & Pau Miret-Gamundi, 2014. "The labour trajectories of immigrant women in Spain: Are there signs of upward social mobility?," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 31(13), pages 337-380.
    16. Uebelmesser Silke, 2006. "To Go or Not to Go: Emigration from Germany," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 7(2), pages 211-231, May.
    17. Dustmann, Christian & Kirchkamp, Oliver, 2002. "The optimal migration duration and activity choice after re-migration," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 351-372, April.
    18. Dilan Tas & Merima Kastrat, 2019. "Does Immigration Affect Native’s Labor Market Outcomes in Germany?," LIS Working papers 770, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    19. Gil S. Epstein & Astrid Kunze & Melanie E. Ward, 2009. "High‐Skilled Migration And The Exertion Of Effort By The Local Population," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 56(3), pages 332-352, July.
    20. Smolny, Werner & Rieber, Alexander, 2016. "Labour market integration of immigrants - Evidence for the German guest workers," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145629, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • N32 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - U.S.; Canada: 1913-
    • N34 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Europe: 1913-

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cje:issued:v:45:y:2012:i:2:p:732-754. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Prof. Werner Antweiler (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ceaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.