IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/tcd/tcduee/tep0220.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The long-run impact of historical shocks on the decision to migrate: Evidence from the Irish Migration

Author

Listed:
  • Gaia Narciso

    (Department of Economics, Trinity College Dublin)

  • Battista Severgnini

    (Copenhagen Business School)

  • Gayane Vardanyan

    (Department of Economics, Trinity College Dublin)

Abstract

What is the long-run impact of large negative historical events on the individual decision to migrate? We investigate this research question by looking at the effect of the Great Irish Famine (1845-1850) on the long-run individual decision to migrate to the US during the Age of the Mass Migration. We construct a unique dataset based on two early 20th century Irish Censuses and the Ellis Island Administrative Records. This allows us to test whether the Great Irish Famine, one of the most lethal episodes of mass starvation in history, had a long-run impact on individuals migration decisions. Controlling for individual and geographical characteristics, we find that the Irish Famine was a significant long-run driver of individuals migration choices.

Suggested Citation

  • Gaia Narciso & Battista Severgnini & Gayane Vardanyan, 2020. "The long-run impact of historical shocks on the decision to migrate: Evidence from the Irish Migration," Trinity Economics Papers tep0220, Trinity College Dublin, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:tcd:tcduee:tep0220
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.tcd.ie/Economics/TEP/0220/TEP0220.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Krugman, Paul, 1991. "Increasing Returns and Economic Geography," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(3), pages 483-499, June.
    2. Gráda, Cormac Ó & O'Rourke, Kevin H., 1997. "Migration as disaster relief: Lessons from the Great Irish Famine," European Review of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 1(1), pages 3-25, April.
    3. Mounir Karadja & Erik Prawitz, 2019. "Exit, Voice, and Political Change: Evidence from Swedish Mass Migration to the United States," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 127(4), pages 1864-1925.
    4. Kirchberger, Martina, 2017. "Natural disasters and labor markets," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 40-58.
    5. 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.
    6. Gaia Narciso & Battista Severgnini, 2016. "The Deep Roots of Rebellion: Evidence from the Irish Revolution," Trinity Economics Papers tep2216, Trinity College Dublin, Department of Economics.
    7. Goodspeed, Tyler Beck, 2016. "Microcredit and adjustment to environmental shock: Evidence from the Great Famine in Ireland," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 258-277.
    8. Connor, Dylan Shane, 2019. "The Cream of the Crop? Geography, Networks, and Irish Migrant Selection in the Age of Mass Migration," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 79(1), pages 139-175, March.
    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. Narciso, Gaia & Severgnini, Battista, 2023. "The deep roots of rebellion," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).

    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. Hargaden, Enda Patrick, 2022. "Who donates to revolutionaries? Evidence from post-1916 Ireland," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    2. Boberg-Fazlić, Nina & Lampe, Markus & Sharp, Paul, 2024. "The sleeping giant who left for America: Danish land inequality and emigration during the age of mass migration," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    3. Curran, Declan & Fröling, Maria, 2010. "Large-scale mortality shocks and the Great Irish Famine 1845-1852," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 1302-1314, September.
    4. Collins, William J. & Zimran, Ariell, 2019. "The economic assimilation of Irish Famine migrants to the United States," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    5. Yannay Spitzer & Gaspare Tortorici & Ariell Zimran, 2020. "International Migration Responses to Modern Europe’s Most Destructive Earthquake: Messina and Reggio Calabria, 1908," NBER Working Papers 27506, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Fernihough, Alan, 2024. "Economic Geography and the Irish Border: A Market Access Approach," QBS Working Paper Series 2024/02, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's Business School.
    7. Nina Boberg-Fazlić & Markus Lampe & Paul Sharp, 2021. "The Sleeping Giant Who Left for America: The Determinants and Impact of Danish Emigration During the Age of Mass Migration," Working Papers 0213, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    8. Testa, Patrick A., 2021. "Shocks and the spatial distribution of economic activity: The role of institutions," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 791-810.
    9. Narciso, Gaia & Severgnini, Battista, 2023. "The deep roots of rebellion," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    10. Spitzer, Yannay & Tortorici, Gaspare & Zimran, Ariell, 2020. "International Migration Responses to Natural Disasters: Evidence from Modern Europe’s Deadliest Earthquake," CEPR Discussion Papers 15008, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    11. Davenport, Sally, 2005. "Exploring the role of proximity in SME knowledge-acquisition," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 683-701, June.
    12. Marcel Bednarz & Tom Broekel, 2020. "Pulled or pushed? The spatial diffusion of wind energy between local demand and supply," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 29(4), pages 893-916.
    13. Ingrid Ott & Susanne Soretz, 2006. "Governmental activity, integration, and agglomeration," Working Paper Series in Economics 57, University of Lüneburg, Institute of Economics.
    14. Sidney Turner & Richard Turner, 2011. "Capital cities: a special case in urban development," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 46(1), pages 19-35, February.
    15. Molinder, Jakob & Karlsson, Tobias & Enflo, Kerstin, 2022. "Social democracy and the decline of strikes," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    16. Agarwalla, Astha, 2011. "Agglomeration Economies and Productivity Growth in India," IIMA Working Papers WP2011-01-08, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Research and Publication Department.
    17. Masashige Hamano & Pierre M. Picard, 2017. "Extensive and intensive margins and exchange rate regimes," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 50(3), pages 804-837, August.
    18. Michael Beenstock & Daniel Felsenstein, 2003. "Decomposing the Dynamics of Regional Earnings Disparities in Israel," ERSA conference papers ersa03p90, European Regional Science Association.
    19. Catherine Baumont, 1995. "Urban economics and endogenous dynamics in regional growth [Economies d'agglomération et dynamique endogène de croissance des régions]," Working Papers hal-01527237, HAL.
    20. Emanuela Marrocu & Raffaele Paci & Stefano Usai, 2013. "Productivity Growth In The Old And New Europe: The Role Of Agglomeration Externalities," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(3), pages 418-442, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    mass migration; negative shock; long-run impact; Great Famine.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • N33 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • N93 - Economic History - - Regional and Urban History - - - Europe: Pre-1913

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:tcd:tcduee:tep0220. 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: Colette Angelov (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/detcdie.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.