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Migrating to Riches? Evidence from the California Gold Rush

Author

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  • CLAY, KAREN
  • JONES, RANDALL

Abstract

Gold discoveries in 1848 set off a large and extremely rapid migration to California. This article uses newly collected data from the 1850 and 1852 Censuses of Population together with the public use sample of the 1850 Census of Population to examine who went to California and how they did economically. We find that the propensity to migrate was affected by the individual's age and literacy, distance of the state from California, and average state latitude. Consistent with the historical literature, we find that economic outcomes were generally small or even zero for miners but were positive and large for nonminers.

Suggested Citation

  • Clay, Karen & Jones, Randall, 2008. "Migrating to Riches? Evidence from the California Gold Rush," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 68(4), pages 997-1027, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:68:y:2008:i:04:p:997-1027_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Couttenier, Mathieu & Sangnier, Marc, 2015. "Living in the Garden of Eden: Mineral resources and preferences for redistribution," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 243-256.
    2. Mathieu Couttenier & Pauline Grosjean & Marc Sangnier, 2017. "The Wild West IS Wild: The Homicide Resource Curse," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 15(3), pages 558-585.
    3. Julien Prat & Benjamin Walter, 2021. "An Equilibrium Model of the Market for Bitcoin Mining," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 129(8), pages 2415-2452.
    4. Brodeur, Abel & Haddad, Joanne, 2021. "Institutions, attitudes and LGBT: Evidence from the gold rush," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 92-110.
    5. Couttenier, Mathieu & Sangnier, Marc, 2015. "Living in the Garden of Eden: Mineral resources and preferences for redistribution," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 243-256.
    6. Leonard Lynn & Hal Salzman & Daniel Kuehn, 2018. "Dynamics of Engineering Labor Markets: Petroleum Engineering Demand and Responsive Supply," NBER Chapters, in: US Engineering in a Global Economy, pages 243-262, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Gary D. Libecap, 2018. "Property Rights to Frontier Land and Minerals: US Exceptionalism," NBER Working Papers 24544, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Rodríguez-Puello, Gabriel & Rickardsson, Jonna, 2024. "Spatial Diffusion of Economic Shocks in the Labor Market: Evidence from a Mining Boom and Bust," OSF Preprints tzmf2, Center for Open Science.
    9. Keir Reeves & Lionel Frost & Charles Fahey, 2010. "Integrating The Historiography Of The Nineteenth‐Century Gold Rushes," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 50(2), pages 111-128, July.
    10. Angel, Marco Del & Hess, Gregory D. & Weidenmier, Marc D., 2024. "Mineral price shocks and Native American conflict," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 240(C).
    11. Kronenberg, Christoph, 2020. "New(spaper) Evidence of a Reduction in Suicide Mentions during the 19th‐century US Gold Rush," CINCH Working Paper Series (since 2020) 73382, Duisburg-Essen University Library, DuEPublico.
    12. Kamran Zolfi, 2023. "Gold rush optimizer: A new population-based metaheuristic algorithm," Operations Research and Decisions, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Management, vol. 33(1), pages 113-150.
    13. 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.
    14. Bryan Leonard & Gary D. Libecap, 2016. "Collective Action by Contract: Prior Appropriation and the Development of Irrigation in the Western United States," NBER Working Papers 22185, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Christoph Kronenberg, 2021. "New(spaper) evidence of a reduction in suicide mentions during the 19th century US gold rush," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(10), pages 2582-2594, September.

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