IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cup/jechis/v51y1991i03p581-603_03.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Economic Opportunity on the urban frontier: nativity, work, and wealth in early chicago

Author

Listed:
  • Galenson, David W.

Abstract

This article uses evidence drawn from the manuscripts of the 1850 and 1860 federal censuses to investigate the correlates of the wealth of adult males in Chicago. The analysis reveals rapidly increasing wealth with age, a substantial positive effect on wealth of duration of residence in the city, and an absence of any significant impact of nativity on wealth when controlling occupation. Mean wealth rose from well below the national average in 1850 to a level far above the national average in 1860. Together these results suggest that early Chicago was a place of exceptional economic opportunity for settlers.

Suggested Citation

  • Galenson, David W., 1991. "Economic Opportunity on the urban frontier: nativity, work, and wealth in early chicago," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 51(3), pages 581-603, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:51:y:1991:i:03:p:581-603_03
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022050700039577/type/journal_article
    File Function: link to article abstract page
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Walker, Thomas R., 2000. "Economic Opportunity on the Urban Frontier: Wealth and Nativity in Early San Francisco," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 258-277, July.
    2. Cosgel, Metin M. & Andrew, Bradley B., 2001. "Membership in a Religious Commune: The Shakers, 1850-1870," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 273-295, April.
    3. Jason Long & Joseph Ferrie, 2005. "A Tale of Two Labor Markets: Intergenerational Occupational Mobility in Britain and the U.S. Since 1850," NBER Working Papers 11253, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. James E. CURTIS Jr., 2017. "Differences in wealth, education, and history," Journal of Social and Administrative Sciences, KSP Journals, vol. 4(4), pages 398-417, December.
    5. Dupont, Brandon & Rosenbloom, Joshua L., 2018. "The economic origins of the postwar southern elite," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 119-131.
    6. Joseph P. Ferrie, 1995. "A New Sample of Americans Linked from the 1850 Public Use Micro Sampleofthe Federal Census of Population to the1860 Federal Census Manuscript Sched," NBER Historical Working Papers 0071, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Dupont, Brandon & Rosenbloom, Joshua L., 2020. "Wealth Mobility in the 1860s," ISU General Staff Papers 202009180700001112, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    8. Ferrie, Joseph P., 1997. "The Entry into the U.S. Labor Market of Antebellum European Immigrants, 1840-1860," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 295-330, July.
    9. Jaworski, Taylor, 2009. "War and wealth: economic opportunity before and after the Civil War, 1850-1870," Economic History Working Papers 22303, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    10. Livio Di Matteo, 2016. "Wealth Distribution and the Canadian Middle Class: Historical Evidence and Policy Implications," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 42(2), pages 132-151, June.
    11. Stewart, James I., 2006. "Migration to the agricultural frontier and wealth accumulation, 1860-1870," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 547-577, October.
    12. Chulhee Lee, 2003. "Health and Wealth Accumulation: Evidence from Nineteenth-Century America," NBER Working Papers 10035, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Di Matteo, Livio, 1998. "Wealth Accumulation and the Life-Cycle in Economic History: Implications of Alternative Approaches to Data," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 296-324, July.
    14. Stewart, James I., 2012. "Migration to U.S. frontier cities and job opportunity, 1860–1880," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 49(4), pages 528-542.
    15. Di Matteo, Livio, 2013. "Women, wealth and economic change: An assessment of the impact of women's property law in Wentworth County, Ontario, 1872–1927," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 285-307.
    16. Jason Long & Joseph Ferrie, 2013. "Intergenerational Occupational Mobility in Great Britain and the United States since 1850," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(4), pages 1109-1137, June.
    17. Livio Di Matteo, 2008. "Wealth accumulation motives: evidence from the probate records of Ontario, 1892 and 1902," Cliometrica, Journal of Historical Economics and Econometric History, Association Française de Cliométrie (AFC), vol. 2(2), pages 143-171, July.

    More about this item

    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:cup:jechis:v:51:y:1991:i:03:p:581-603_03. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Kirk Stebbing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cambridge.org/jeh .

    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.