To the New World and Back Again: Return Migrants in the Age of Mass Migration

Abstract

, and numerous participants at the Festschrift conference (not least of which, Hank himself!). The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peer-reviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications.

International Migration in the Atlantic Economy 1850–1940

“…As noted earlier, remittances were often used to finance further emigration but the flow of remittances also enhanced financial development in countries of the European periphery (Esteves and Khoudour-Castéras 2011). Qualitative evidence also suggests that return migration to Italy increased farm prices due to savings brought back home (Wyman, 1993;Cinel, 1991), and linked census data from Norway shows that return migrants improved their occupational standing due to their temporary trip abroad, likely because of bringing back savings (Abramitzky et al, 2016b). Thus while the effects of immigration on the working population in the New World seem to have been rather mixed, for those that remained in the Old World the economic effects were largely positive.…”

“…Abramitzky et al (2016b) provide new microdata on returners to Norway and show that despite return migrants being negatively selected relative to both movers and non-movers, they achieved higher outcomes upon return to Norway, reflecting a positive return to temporary migration.…”

Across the Sea to Ireland: Return Atlantic Migration before the First World War

“…The differences between emigrants and returnees in the rest of the United Kingdom were much smaller (see Appendix Tables 1a and 1b). The outcome represents a form of 'brain gain' from return migration (compare Abramitzky et al 2019;Biondo et al 2012).…”

“…the more skilled and successful of the emigrants were more likely to return (Ramos 1992). Abramitzky et al (2019) compare the occupations of Norwegians who returned home from the US during the golden age of mass migration with the occupations of those who did not return, and find evidence of negative selecti0n relative to out-migrants. Yet the returnees held occupations of higher status than those who never emigrated.…”

Revisiting Mexican migration in the Age of Mass Migration: New evidence from individual border crossings

“…This could allow the development of research similar toAbramitzky et al (2014);Inwood et al (2019) andWard (2019), who study the assimilation and performance of immigrants during the early twentieth century. Since the MBCRs record return migration, it is also possible to examine the selection pattern into migration and into return migration likeAbramitzky et al (2019c);Kosack & Ward (2014).Annex. Additional figuresFigure A.1: INS Form 500-B.…”