European migration, national origin and long-term economic development in the US

Does the nationality of migrants arriving in any particular territory make a difference for long-term economic development? Have Irish, German or Italian settlers arriving in the US at the turn of the 20th century left an institutional trace which determines economic development differences to this day? This paper explores whether the distinct geographical settlement patterns of European migrants according to national origin affected economic development across US counties. It uses historical microdata ? provided in the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) database ? of the US censuses which coincided with the greatest waves of European migration (1880, 1910) in order to uncover the settlement patterns of migrants of different national origins across the more than 3,000 US counties. We look at the national origin of migrants living in any given US county and at their percentage in the local population of the county at the turn of the 19th century so as to assess whether a greater presence of migrants from specific national origins has influenced and/or continues to influence development patterns across US counties to this day. The analysis also controls for a number of factors which would have determined both the attractiveness of different US counties at the time of migration, as well as current levels of development, including income per capita, population, the unemployment rate, the educational attainment of the population, the percentage of blacks, female labour participation, and employment in agriculture as independent variables. The results indicate that while there is a strong and positive correlation between where migrants settled and current levels of development, this correlation seems to be completely independent of the national origin of migrants. Specific migrant origins ? with the only exception of the English, precisely those with the least problems of adaptation to the new environment ? do not make a difference for long-term economic development whatsoever. This holds for the first and second wave of migration. Hence being settled by Germans, Irish, Scandinavians, Poles, or Italians has always been favourable for subsequent economic development. The main difference is simply between counties which received a large influx of migrants, which tend to be significantly richer today, and those that did not

The missing ingredient: distance internal migration and its long-term economic impact in the United States

This paper examines if internal migrants at the turn of the twentieth century have influenced the long-term economic development of the counties where they settled over 100 years ago. Using Census microdata from 1880 and 1910, the distance travelled by American-born migrants between birthplace and county of residence is examined to assess its relevance for the economic development of US counties today. The settlement patterns of domestic migrants across the 48 continental states are then linked to current county-level development. Factors influencing both migration at the time and the level of development of the county today are controlled for. The results of the analysis underline the economic importance of internal migration. Counties that attracted American-born migrants more than 100 years ago are significantly richer today. Moreover, distance is crucial for the impact of internal migration on long-term economic development; the larger the distance travelled by domestic migrants, the greater the long-term economic impact on the receiving territories

Migration-prone and migration-averse places. Path dependence in long-term migration to the US

Does past migration beget future migration? Do migrants from different backgrounds, origins and ethnicities, and separated by several generations always settle – in a path dependent way – in the same places? Is there a permanent separation between migration-prone and migration-averse areas? This paper examines whether that is the case by looking at the settlement patterns of two very different migration waves, that of Europeans at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries and that of Latin Americans between the 1960s and the early 21st century. Using Census data aggregated at county level, we track the settlement pattern of migrants and assess the extent to which the first mass migration wave has determined the later settlement pattern of Latin American migrants to the US. The analysis, conducted using ordinary least squares, instrumental variable and panel data estimation techniques, shows that past US migration patterns create a path dependence that has consistently affected the geography of future migration waves. Recent Latin American migrants have flocked, once other factors are controlled for, to the same migration prone US counties where their European predecessors settled, in spite of the very different nature of both migration waves and a time gap of three to five generations

Stereochemistry‐Controlled Supramolecular Architectures of New Tetrahydroxy‐Functionalised Amphiphilic Carbocyanine Dyes

The syntheses of novel amphiphilic 5,5′,6,6‐tetrachlorobenzimidacarbocyanine (TBC) dye derivatives with aminopropanediol head groups, which only differ in stereochemistry (chiral enantiomers, meso form and conformer), are reported. For the achiral meso form, a new synthetic route towards asymmetric cyanine dyes was established. All compounds form J aggregates in water, the optical properties of which were characterised by means of spectroscopic methods. The supramolecular structure of the aggregates is investigated by means of cryo‐transmission electron microscopy, cryo‐electron tomography and AFM, revealing extended sheet‐like aggregates for chiral enantiomers and nanotubes for the mesomer, respectively, whereas the conformer forms predominately needle‐like crystals. The experiments demonstrate that the aggregation behaviour of compounds can be controlled solely by head group stereochemistry, which in the case of enantiomers enables the formation of extended hydrogen‐bond chains by the hydroxyl functionalities. In case of the achiral meso form, however, such chains turned out to be sterically excluded

Does population diversity matter for economic development in the very long-term? Historic migration, diversity and county wealth in the US

Does population diversity matter for economic development in the long-run? Is there a different impact of diversity across time? This paper traces the short-, medium-, and long-term economic impact of population diversity resulting from the big migration waves of the late 19th and early 20th centuries to the United States (US). Using census data from 1880, 1900, and 1910, the settlement pattern of migrants across the counties of the 48 US continental states is tracked in order to construct measures of population fractionalization and polarization at county level. Factors which may have influenced both the individual settlement decision at the time of migration as well as county-level economic development in recent years are controlled for. The results of the analysis show that high levels of population fractionalization have a strong and positive influence on economic development in the short-, medium-, and long-run. High levels of polarization, by contrast, undermine development. Despite a stronger effect on income levels in the first 30 years, we find these relationships to be extremely long-lasting: counties with a more heterogeneous population composition over 130 years ago are significantly richer today, whereas counties that were strongly polarized at the time of the migration waves have endured persistent negative economic effects