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Why Ireland Emigrated: A Positive Theory of Factor Flows

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  • O'Rourke, Kevin

Abstract

Why did labor flow from Ireland to Britain in the nineteenth century when capital could have moved in the opposite direction? This paper addresses this question in a general two-country trade theoretic framework, linking it with the contemporary debate about the relative quality of emigrants and those who stayed behind. Dividing the population into shirkers and nonshirkers, it can be shown (given certain assumptions) that all nonshirkers migrate to the capital abundant country and that capital may flow in the same direction as labor. A switch from cottage industry to the factory system may have initiated such factor flows. Copyright 1992 by Royal Economic Society.

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  • O'Rourke, Kevin, 1992. "Why Ireland Emigrated: A Positive Theory of Factor Flows," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 44(2), pages 322-340, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:oxecpp:v:44:y:1992:i:2:p:322-40
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    Cited by:

    1. Michael A. Clemens & Jeffrey G. Williamson, 2000. "Where did British Foreign Capital Go? Fundamentals, Failures and the Lucas Paradox: 1870-1913," NBER Working Papers 8028, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Karl Whelan, 1999. "Economic Geography and the Long-run Effects of the Great Irish Famine," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 30(1), pages 1-20.
    3. Horst Siebert, 1993. "Internationale Wanderungsbewegungen - Erklärungsansätze und Gestaltungsfragen," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 129(III), pages 229-255, September.
    4. Ali Mansoor & Bryce Quillin, 2007. "Migration and Remittances : Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6920.

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